The University of Colombo Institute of Agro-Technology and Rural Sciences (UCIARS) was established as an Institute with blended distance mode of teaching to provide opportunities of higher education to farming community across barriers of age, space, time and academic background, under Section 24 A and Section 18 of the Universities Act no 16 of 1978 and the University of Colombo Institute of Agro-technology and Rural Sciences Ordinance No. 02 of 20082. The Order under Section 24 A came into operation with effect from 23rd August 2008. The establishment of this Institute heralded an era of affirmative action on the part of the Government of Sri Lanka to “uplift farming in Sri Lanka as a prestigious occupation through arming the farming community with modern knowledge and information technology”.The Institute has a mandate to “providing, promoting and developing among persons presently engaged in Agriculture and Agro-Technology, higher education in the discipline of Agro-Technology and Rural Sciences”. Read More