Carleton Uni Vice President Prof. Nimal Rajapakse appointed SLIIT External Program Examiner

From left: SLIIT Head of Department Civil Engineering Dr. Nihal Somarathne, SLIIT Dean – International Dr. Mahesha Kapurubandara, Professor Nimal Rajapakse, SLIIT MD/CEO Professor Lalith Gamage, Faculty of Engineering Dean Professor Saman Thilakasiri and Faculty of Engineering Senior Lecturer Dr. Chulantha Kulasekara

Prof. Nimal Rajapakse, Vice President (Research and International) of Carleton University, Canada, has been appointed as an external program examiner of SLIIT, the premier degree awarding institute in Sri Lanka. 

As the external program examiner for the BSc Eng (Hons) Degree in Civil Engineering, Prof. Rajapakse will look at the structure of the program, the facilities, and academic staff and recommend improvements in order to make the SLIIT Civil Engineering program, on par with similar programs in other reputed universities worldwide. 

Prof. Rajapakse received his BSc. Eng (Hons.) in Civil Engineering from the University of Moratuwa in Sri Lanka and his Master’s and Ph.D. degrees from the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok, Thailand. Prior to joining Carleton University, Prof. Rajapakse was the Dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences at Simon Fraser University (SFU). He has previously served as head of the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Manitoba, Head of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Institute for Computing, Information and Cognitive Systems at the University of British Columbia (UBC).

“Every program should have an external program examiner. The examiner is given the responsibility to observe the overall program and guide the faculty on areas of development. The aim of receiving such insight is to develop the standard of the program to reach international recognition.  As an external program examiner we expect someone to have industry experience and international level university experience. Prof. Rajapakse is someone eminently suitable for this position,” commented SLIIT President and CEO Professor Lalith Gamage.

Elaborating further he noted, “Setting the standard of higher education, we continuously seek to improve our programs to give the best to our students. The more challenging our programs become, our students will have a greater opportunity for top industry placements and career progression. We are excited that Prof. Rajapakse has agreed to undertake this position and help us enhance the Civil Engineering program.” 

Prof. Rajapakse is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Horst Leipholz Medal of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, the Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship and the Special Visiting Professor Award from the Science without Borders Program of Brazil. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, the Engineering Institute of Canada and the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering.