University of Kelaniya
About
The University of Kelaniya (UoK) is one of Sri Lanka’s leading higher education institutions, with a proud heritage rooted in the Vidyalankara Pirivena, a renowned Buddhist monastic institution founded in 1875. Established as a modern university in 1959 and renamed in 1978, UoK has evolved into a multidisciplinary university committed to excellence in teaching, research, innovation, and community service. Guided by its vision “To become a globally recognized centre of excellence in the creation and dissemination of knowledge for sustainable development and social well-being,” the University fosters academic excellence and the holistic development of students. It comprises seven faculties—Commerce & Management Studies, Computing & Technology, Graduate Studies, Humanities, Medicine, Science, and Social Sciences—and two postgraduate institutes. With more than 17,000 internal students, over 100,000 external learners, and 1,000 academic staff, UoK provides a vibrant, research-oriented environment that promotes multidisciplinary learning and collaboration. In the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2025, the University of Kelaniya was placed in the 1501+ band globally and ranked 3rd among Sri Lankan universities, reflecting its growing international reputation and dedication to global engagement. The University is also recognized as Sri Lanka’s top-ranked Green University (UI GreenMetric 2023) and continues to strengthen its international collaborations through initiatives such as the Erasmus+ CBHE NSIS Project, promoting innovation, digital transformation, and sustainable development in higher education.
Project Coordinator
Dr. W.M. Tharanga Dilruk Ranasinghe serves as Senior Assistant Librarian (Grade I) at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, and is the Institutional Coordinator for the Erasmus+ CBHE project. He holds a PhD in Library and Information Science from Chonnam National University, Republic of Korea under the Korean Government Scholarship Program (KGSP/GKS). With two decades of professional and academic experience, Dr Ranasinghe has contributed extensively to teaching, research, and innovation in Library and Information Science. His teaching spans information literacy, research methods, and digital skills development at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He has held national leadership roles including President of the University Librarians’ Association of Sri Lanka (2022/23) and President of the Global Korea Scholarship Alumni Association (2020–2022) Sri Lanka Chapter and serves as Publicity Envoy for GKS (2023–2025) appointed by the Ministry of Education, Republic of Korea. An IFLA/OCLC Early Career Development Fellow (2014) and recipient of multiple international grants, he has also chaired major LIS conferences such as ICULA 2023 and NACLIS 2021–2022. Dr. Ranasinghe’s research interests focus on information and digital literacy, open access, scholarly communication, and the professional development of librarians in emerging economies.