Beginnings

Modern engineering education in Sri Lanka originated at the Ceylon Technical College, where from 1933 students prepared for the external B.Sc. in Engineering(Hon's) degree from the University of London. In October 1945, the university council of the University of Ceylon - Sri Lanka's first modern university - resolved to establish its engineering faculty. The plan to set up the faculty was initiated by appointing E.O.E. Pereira, a senior engineer in the Public Works Department as a professor in Civil Engineering. Since then, he led the development project. But his plans did not materialize until December 1949, when a crisis occurred at the Ceylon Technical College where the entire batch of Civil Engineering failed to pass the qualifying examination. After that, the Ministry of Education took a decision to close down the technical college and move the engineering education permenatly to the Engineering Faculty that is to be set up at the University of Ceylon.

On 1 July 1950, the University of Ceylon established its Faculty of Engineering, with staff and students from the Ceylon Technical College forming its nucleus. At the initial stages it was based in the Colombo campus and used facilities of the Technical College, later it was moved to Peradeniya Campus. This process was completed in 1964. Three fields of study that had been conducted till then at the Ceylon Technical College formed the first three founding Departments of study, namely Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. The initial intake of students was 25. 19 students were taken from outside and the remaining 6 were transferred from the Faculty of Science of University of Ceylon. Total initial academic staff was 12. It included Prof. E.O.E. Pereira - Head of the Civil Engineering Department, Prof. R.H. Paul - Head of the Electrical Engineering Department, Mr. J.C.V Chinnappa - Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department, who later became a professor. Professor Perera was elected Dean of the faculty in the inaugural faculty meeting. The intake of students reached 150 by 1964. Until then, the total number of graduate output was 384, all of them except one being male.

Shift to Peradeniya

While the faculty was functioning in Colombo, plans were underway to develop a 6 hectare plot of land on the left bank of Mahaweli River at Peradeniya, to set up the permanent housing for it. Professor Perera prepared his plans for an intake of 125 students. This required Rs. 9 million (uninflated) for buildings and Rs. 5 million (uninflated) for equipment. But the Vice Chancellor Sir Nicholas Attygalle refused to allocate that amount due to budget restrictions and allocated only Rs. 5.6 million for the entire project. This caused a dispute between the Professor and the administration which resulted in the resignation of Professor Perera from all his duties. His resignation stalled the project. University council called for an immediate report on the matter. The technical committee that took up the investigation stood strongly by Professor Perera's decision. This resulted in Ministry of Education allocating further funds for the project. The professor was restored in his post. The development project was finished by 1964 and in October 1964, the first batch of students were transferred from Colombo to Peradeniya.

1964 to 1971

From 1964 to 1971, the faculty functioned under the old regulations. Due to the language regulations of 1956, students entering the faculty had to switch from their respective mother language to English - the medium of instruction of the faculty - to follow lectures. This caused some difficulties for students, which were addressed partially in 1970 by making bilingual streams for first year students. The first new department, Department of Mathematics was created in 1965 by Prof. E.F. Bartholomeusz. In 1971, the faculty received an IBM 1130, the first university computer in the country. The student unrests in 1965 and 1966 prompted the government to create a National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) to overlook the university system as the executive authority.^[2] In 1971, three other departments, Department of Production Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering and Department of Agricultural Engineering were added to the faculty.

1971 to 2000

After the 1971 JVP Insurrection, the government decided to amalgamate all the universities to one single university. Therefore, from 1974 to 1978, the faculty was known as the Faculty of Engineering, University of Sri Lanka, Peradeniya Campus. It was only after the dissolution of the University of Sri Lanka in 1978, the faculty was known by its present name, Faculty of Engineering, University of Peradeniya. The body which overlooked the university system, NCHE was also renamed University Grants Commission in the same year. Intake of students which remained 150 by 1971 reached 250 by 1978 and 325 by 2000. Until a second Faculty of Engineering was opened at Katubedda in 1972, it was the only institution to grant engineering degrees in Sri Lanka. The Department of Agricultural Engineering was split for the Faculty of Engineering and moved to the Faculty of Agriculture in late 1970s. The Department of Computer Science was added to the faculty in 1985. The Peradeniya Engineering Faculty Alumni Association (PEFAA) was created in 1991. During this period, the faculty commemorated the Golden Jubilee of University of Peradeniya (in 1992) and the Golden Jubilee of the faculty (in 2000) with two mega scale exhibitions. The 1987–89 JVP Insurrection caused faculty to be closed frequently during 1988 and 1989.^[3] It was by May 1990, the faculty could resume its normal academic work.

2001 onwards

The faculty shifted to the semester based course unit system by 2001. Name of the Department of Computer Science was changed to Department of Computer Engineering and it started offering a degree program in the same year. In 2005, the Department of Chemical Engineering was also renamed the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering. Student intake was further increased to 415 by 2008. The Production Engineering Department was renamed as the “Department of Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering” in January 2017.^[4]

Academic facilities

• The Engineering Library
• Applied Thermodynamics Laboratory
• Applied Machine Laboratory
• Civil & Environmental Laboratory
• Surveying Laboratory
• Structural Engineering Laboratory
• Drawing Offices
• Engineering Workshops
• CNC Machining and Automation Facility
• Industrial Training and Career Guidance Unit
• The Computing Centre
• The Electronics Workshop
• English Language Teaching Unit (ELTU)
  • The Language Laboratory
• Engineering Education Unit
  • Audio Visual Facility
• Research and Development Units
  • Engineering Design Centre (EDC)
  • Centre for Engineering Research and Postgraduate Studies (CERPS)

University service facilities

• Motor Vehicle Repair Unit (MVRU)