This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations. (December 2014)

The following people spent time at the University of Colombo as either teaching staff or students.

Heads of state and government

• J. R. Jayewardene – former President and Prime Minister of Sri Lanka
• Gotabaya Rajapaksa – former President of Sri Lanka
• Ranil Wickremesinghe – current President and former Prime Minister of Sri Lanka

Prominent figures in the independence movement

• Dr Charles Alwis Hewavitharana, FRCS – leader in the independence movement

Legislators and political figures

• Hector Abhayavardhana – Trotskyist
• Professor Ranjith Bandara, Member of Parliament in Sri Lanka
• A. Amirthalingam – former Opposition leader, Member of Parliament and Tamil separatist
• Hon. Tissa Attanayake – former Cabinet Minister; former Member of Parliament
• Professor Sir Nicholas Attygalle, FRCS – former President of the Senate of Ceylon, Vice-Chancellor of University of Ceylon, Dean Faculty of Medicine & Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
• Hon. Ronnie De Mel, CCS – former Cabinet Minister and Member of Parliament
• Hon. William de Silva – former Cabinet Minister and Member of Parliament
• Deshamanya Neville Kanakeratne – former Governor of the Southern Province
• Hon. Anil Moonesinghe – former Cabinet Minister and Member of Parliament
• Senator Somasundaram Nadesan – former Senator
• Hon. Professor G. L. Peiris – former Cabinet Minister and Member of Parliament
• Hon. M. Sivasithamparam – former Deputy Speaker of Parliament
• Hon. Doctor Tissa Vitharana – current Cabinet Minister of Science and Technology and Member of Parliament
• Hon. Doctor Nissanka Wijeyeratne, CCS – former Cabinet Minister of Education, Higher Education and Justice; Member of Parliament; Sri Lankan Ambassador to the Russian Federation; former Permanent Secretary; Diyawadana Nilame of the Temple of the Tooth

Clergy and religious figures

• Cardinal Thomas Cooray, OMI – former Archbishop of Colombo; first Cardinal from Sri Lanka
• Rt.Revd. Dr. Lakshman Wickremasinghe – Bishop of Kurunegala; youngest bishop in the Church of England

Civil servants

• Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe, CCS – former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance & Treasury, Ministry of Health (also listed in Diplomats)
• Deshamanya C.A. Coorey, SLAS – former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance & Treasury
• Deshamanya Dr Gamani Corea – former Secretary-General of the UNCTD (1974–1984); Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs; Senior Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Ceylon ^[1]
• Tissa Devendra – former Chairman of Public Service Commission; Chairman of Salaries Commission; first President of the Colombo University Alumni Association
• Hemasiri Fernando – former Secretary to the Prime Minister
• Bernard Peiris, OBE, JP – former Cabinet Secretary ^[2]
• M. J. Perera, CCS – first Chairman of the Rupavahini Corporation; former Permanent Secretary of the Education and Cultural Affairs Ministry; Vice-Chancellor of University of Peradeniya
• G.V.P. Samarasinghe, CCS – former Cabinet Secretary and Permanent Secretary of Defence and Foreign Affairs
• S.J. Walpita, CCS – former Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Industries & Fisheries; Vice-Chancellor of University of Ceylon, Peradeniya ^[3]
• Bradman Weerakoon, CCS – former Secretary to the Prime Minister

Diplomats

• T. D. S. A. Dissanayake – former Sri Lankan Ambassador to Indonesia and Egypt
• Yogendra Duraiswamy, SLOS – former Sri Lankan diplomat
• Deshamanya Dr Vernon Mendis, SLOS – former United Nations' Special Envoy to the Middle East, Sri Lankan High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Canada; Ambassador to USSR, Cuba and Secretary General of the Non Aligned Movement ^[4]
• Daya Perera, PC – former Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Canada; Ambassador to the United Nations in New York
• Wickrema Weerasooria – former Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia and New Zealand; Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Plan Implementation

Military

• General Deshamanya Sepala Attygalle, MVO, idc, psc, SLAC – former Commander of the Sri Lankan Army (1967–1977) and Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Defence
• Major General Anton Muttukumaru – first Ceylonese Army officer to serve as Commander of the Ceylon Army
• Major General Dr. Chelliah Thurairaja, USP, SLMC – former Director Army Medical Services and Colonel Commandant of the Sri Lanka Army Medical Corps

Police

• Sydney de Zoysa – former Deputy Inspector General of Police, Range II; Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Internal Security; a leader of the attempted military coup in 1962 ^[5]
• C. C. Dissanayake – former Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police (SDIG) and a leader of the attempted military coup in 1962 ^[6]
• S.A. Dissanayake – former Inspector General of Police (IGP) and Additional Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs and Defence
• N. K. Illangakoon – current Inspector General of Police (IGP) ^[7]

Academics

Vice Chancellors

• Professor Savitri Goonesekere – former Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo
• Professor Kshanika Hirimburegama – current Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo
• Professor Vidya Jyothi V. K. Samaranayake – former Dean of the Faculty of Science, University of Colombo and founder of University of Colombo School of Computing
• Professor Stanley Wijesundera – former Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo

Professors and scholars

• Professor Hithanadura Janaka De Silva – Foundation Professor of Medicine, University of Kelaniya; Dean of Faculty of Medicine Kelaniya (Student Faculty of Medicine 1977-1982)
• Professor Nalin de Silva – professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Kelaniya
• Professor Rangita de Silva de Alwis – adjunct professor of Global Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania Law School ^[8]
• Dr Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri – historian and Head of the Department of History, University of Colombo
• Professor Deshamanya J B Disanayake – professor and former Head of the Department of Sinhala, University of Colombo
• Professor Devaka Fernando – Foundation Professor of Medicine, University of Sri Jayawardanapura; Visiting Professor of Endocrinology University of Newcastle upon Tyne, University of Sheffield; Honorary Professor Sheffield Hallam University (Student Faculty of Medicine 1976-1981 and Senior Lecturer in Medicine 1994-1996)
• Dr. Brendon Gooneratne – Head and Senior Lecturer, Department of Parasitology, University of Ceylon, Peradeniya
• Professor Yasmine Gooneratne – poet, short story writer and essayist
• Professor Shan Ratnam – Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, National University Hospital of Singapore
• Professor A. Suri Ratnapala – Professor of Law, T.C. Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland
• Professor Ediriweera Sarachchandra – playwright, novelist and poet
• Professor K. N. Seneviratne – Professor of Medicine; founder director of Sri Lanka's Postgraduate Institute of Medicine ^{[9] [10]}
• Professor Jayadeva Uyangoda – professor and former Head of the Department of Political Science, University of Colombo
• Dr Maitree Wickramasinghe – academic and senior lecturer at the Department of English of the University of Kelaniya
• Professor Nira Wickramasinghe – historian and Professor of Modern South Asian Studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands
• Dr Gihan Wikramanayake – Head and Senior Lecturer, Department of Information Systems Engineering of the University of Colombo School of Computing

Artists

Novelists, poets and playwrights

• Professor Ediriweera Sarachchandra – Sri Lanka's premier playwright

Actors

• Jackson Anthony – actor, director, singer
• Iranganie Serasinghe – actress

Visual artists

• Malaka Dewapriya – filmmaker, short film director, video artist, radio play writer

Judges

• Hon. Justice Saleem Marsoof – former Judge of the Supreme Court
• Hon. Justice Neville Samarakoon – former Chief Justice of Sri Lanka
• Sri Lankabhimanya Hon. Justice Christopher Weeramantry – former Judge of the International Court of Justice and the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka

Medicine

• Professor Hithanadura Janaka De Silva – Foundation Professor of Medicine University of Kelaniya, Dean Faculty of Medicine Kelaniya
• Professor Devaka Fernando – Foundation Professor of Medicine University of Sri Jayawardanapura; Visiting Professor of Endocrinology, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, University of Sheffield; Honorary Professor, Sheffield Hallam University
• Dr Brendon Gooneratne – scholar and author
• Dr Charles Alwis Hewavitharana – independence activist
• Dr Richard Lionel Spittel, CMG, CBE – naturalist and author

Journalists

• Eva Ranaweera – feminist editor, poet and novelist
• Regi Siriwardena – journalist and writer

Sportsmen

• Brigadier Dr. H.I.K. Fernando – former Ceylon cricketer
• Lasantha Fernando – tennis champion and Davis Cup player ^[11]
• Jehan Mubarak – cricketer
• Tambyah Murugaser – former Vice President of the Board of Control for Cricket; Sri Lanka team manager ^[12]
• Dr Ajith C. S. Perera – former test-match-panel senior cricket umpire; disability activist
• Mano Ponniah – former Ceylon cricketer and member of the Cambridge eleven ^[13]
• Kumar Sangakkara – captain of the Sri Lankan national cricket team

Lawyers

• T.B. Dissanayake – former Commissioner of Assize
• Palitha Fernando, PC – current Attorney General of Sri Lanka and Judge Advocate of the Sri Lanka Navy ^{[14] [15]}

Engineers

• B.D Rampala – former Chief Mechanical Engineer and General Manager of the Ceylon Government Railway

Activists

• Rajini Thiranagama – human rights activist and feminist

Faculty

• Professor Sir Nicholas Attygalle
• Professor Sir Charles Irwin Ball
• Professor Nalin de Silva
• Dr Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri
• Professor Deshamanya J B Disanayake
• Professor J B Disanayake
• Professor Christie Jayaratnam Eliezer, AM
• Professor Savitri Goonesekere
• Professor Kshanika Hirimburegama
• Professor Kumari Jayawardena
• Professor Amal Jayawardane
• Professor Sir William Ivor Jennings
• Professor Kusuma Karunaratne
• Professor Sarath Kotagama
• Professor S.R. Kottegoda
• Professor Gunapala Piyasena Malalasekera
• Professor Dharmasena Pathiraja
• Professor G. L. Peiris
• Professor Vidya Jyothi V. K. Samaranayake
• Professor Ediriweera Sarachchandra
• Professor Anuradha Seneviratna
• Professor K. N. Seneviratne
• Professor Priyani Soysa
• Hedi Stadlen
• Professor Deepika Udagama
• Professor Jayadeva Uyangoda
• Professor Nira Wickramasinghe
• Professor Stanley Wijesundera

References