Prof. Jayantha Lal Ratnasekera has been appointed Vice Chancellor of Uva Wellassa University by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for three years.
He has been serving as the Vice Chancellor of Uva Wellassa University from February 2017.
Prof. Ratnasekera had his primary education at Agrabodhi Vidyalaya, Kanthale and secondary education at Nalanda College, Colombo. He graduated from People’s Friendship University, Moscow, Russia with an honours degree in Chemistry in 1988. In 1993, he obtained his PhD in Chemistry from the same university.
Prof. Ratnasekera joined Rajarata University as a Senior Lecturer in August 1996 and was promoted to the post of Professor in Chemistry in 2018. He had been the Head of the Department of Physical Sciences of Rajarata University for three years (1996-1999), and the Dean of Faculty of Applied Sciences for six years (1999-2005).
Prof. Ratnasekera has served in three World Bank funded higher education and school education projects (i.e. IRQUE, HETC and TSEP) in different capacities, such as Consultant on Quality Assurance, Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, Deputy Project Director and Project Director.
He has a wide knowledge and hands-on experience on the higher education and school education systems. His research interests are in the fields of renewable energy sources, environmental chemistry, theoretical chemistry, quality assurance in higher education and science education.
He was awarded the Presidential Award for Scientific Publications published in 2016 and the National Research Council (NRC) Merit Award for Scientific Research published in 2017.
Prof. Ratnasekera has contributed immensely for the development of quality assurance in the university sector. He has served as a Member of the Standing Committee on Quality Assurance, University Grants Commission (UGC) and also served as an International Reviewer in external quality assessments in universities in Bangladesh. Prof. Ratnasekera has been a trainer and a resource person in numerous training programs and workshops. He is well known as a freelance writer for newspapers, author and a translator.