Prof. Ranjith Senaratne possesses around 35 years of experience in higher education ranging from teaching, research and administration to community service. He has provided strategic, inspirational and operational leadership to higher educational institutions, and he is considered as a visionary leader and institution builder.
Born on 21 July 1954 in Galle, Ranjith Senaratne received his primary education at the Dickwella Methodist College and secondary education at Rahula College, Matara. He read for his B.Sc. in Agriculture and M.Phil. in Agricultural Biology at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka from 1973 - 1980. After joining the University of Ruhuna in 1981, he proceeded to the Agricultural University in Vienna for his doctoral studies from 1982-1986, researching nitrogen carry-over effects of legumes in sequential cropping systems using nuclear techniques.
He was appointed the Professor of Crop Science of the University of Ruhuna in 1998 and he has served as the Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ruhuna for a period of nearly eight years before being appointed the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ruhuna in March 2001. He has held the post of Vice-Chancellor for a period of six years from March 2001 to March 2007 with distinction. As the Vice Chancellor, he has been strongly committed to promoting academic excellence, high impact research, creative enterprise, strategic partnership with industry, community development and international cooperation. Under his visionary leadership and mature guidance, the University of Ruhuna has made great strides in the academic, research and outreach sphere, emerging as a leader of higher education in Sri Lanka.
Upon return to Sri Lanka in 1986, he pursued research in the field of nutrient cycling in multiple cropping systems, nutrient dynamics in agro-forestry systems and restoration of degraded land. He has over 100 publications to his credit. In 1992, he was adjudged the most outstanding young scientist in Biology in Sri Lanka by the Third World Academy of Sciences in Rome, Italy. Prof. Senaratne has been the recipient of several internationally competitive and prestigious research grants including a grant from the Board on Science and Technology for International Development (BOSTID) of the National Research Council of the USA and has held a number of coveted fellowships including the Andre Mayer Fellowship of the FAO and the Marie Curie Fellowship of the European community.
He was appointed Professor of Crop Science at the University of Ruhuna in 1998 and served as the Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ruhuna for nearly eight years before being appointed Vice Chancellor of the University of Ruhuna in March 2001, a post which he held with distinction for six years from March 2001 to March 2007. As Vice Chancellor, he was strongly committed to promoting academic excellence, high impact research, creative enterprise, strategic partnership with industry, community development and international cooperation. Under his visionary leadership and mature guidance, the University of Ruhuna made great strides in the academic, research and outreach spheres, to emerge as a leader of higher education in Sri Lanka.
Prof. Senaratne has been the President of the Agriculture & Forestry Section of the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science and the co-editor of “Tropical Agricultural Research and Extension” Journal. He has served as a member of a multitude of professional bodies and national committees in an advisory capacity and has also been a member of Consultative Committee of the International Water Management Institute and the Hambantota District Chamber of Commerce. As Chairman of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Directors of the universities in Sri Lanka in 2006, he initiated the CVCD Encouragement Awards Scheme with a view to promoting academic excellence and high impact research in Sri Lankan universities.
In recognition of his outstanding contribution in education, science, community development and international cooperation, the University of Durham in the UK conferred an honorary Doctorate on him in 2007. He served as the Chairman of the Ocean University (National Institute of Fisheries and Nautical Engineering) and Vice Chairman of the University Grants Commission.