VISION
To achieve excellence in sustainable development of mineral industry in the country for the benefit of the national economy, through creation and dissemination of knowledge
MISSION
To produce competent graduates in the fields of Mineral Exploration, Mining and Mineral Processing to achieve sustainable development in the mineral industry.
To conduct high quality research and provide professional experience to become leaders in the field of Earth Resources Engineering.
OUR HISTORY
The history of the department dates to 1973 where Houldsworth-Katubedda link (also known as the Leeds-Link) which was established to develop graduate-level education in the country. Bachelor of Applied Sciences [BASc] in Mining & Mineral Processing degree program was introduced in 1973 by the School of Applied Science in University of Sri Lanka, Katubedda Campus, under the Leeds Link. The first intake of students to BASc. Mining & Mineral Processing admitted in April 1974. The part time certificate courses in Gemmology and Geology were also started during the same time to cater for a wide range of students who are interested in the resources industry.
The School of Applied Science had two other degree programs, Metallurgy & Ceramics, and Chemical Engineering & Fuel Sciences and was led by Prof. ART De Silva. The school was almost a replica of Houldsworth School of Applied Science in University of Leeds, United Kingdom. Hence, the same senior academic staff visited our school to conduct lectures for our students which helped to maintain the global standards from the very beginning. Furthermore, laboratories and other facilities in the department was developed using funds received from the Overseas Development Ministry of United Kingdom during 1975.
Six students from the first intake graduated in September 1978 and its best performer PGR Dharmaratne, later became the longest-serving staff member of the department, and currently an Emeritus Professor. The first head of the department of Mining & Minerals Engineering was Dr WLW Fernando and he became the first professor as well as the first emeritus professor of the department.
Following the Universities Act No. 16 of 1978, the Katubedda Campus received independent university status in 1979 to become the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. Initially, it had three faculties as Engineering; Architecture and Town & Country Planning; and Physical & Applied Science. The Faculty of Physical & Applied Sciences was restructured and absorbed as Engineering II category by the Faculty of Engineering in 1981. As a result, departments of Chemical Engineering, Materials Engineering, and Mining & Minerals Engineering could offer degree programs in Bachelor of Science of Engineering (BSc. Eng.). Accordingly, the students were admitted to the faculty under Engineering I & II categories and allocated to specilizations by the end of first year, based on individual preference and performance.
During 1984, the department has received 90 very rare minerals specimens from the University of New South Wales with the assistance of the Vice-Chancellor Prof. W Mendis. In the same year, department has conducted its first ever two-day (28 & 29 May) symposium on “Mineral Resources of Sri Lanka and its Developments” at the university premise, under the headship of Dr WLW Fernando with Mr B Marasinghe being the editor. The department has offered Engineering Geology course for Civil Engineering program and provided laboratory facilities to the Part I & II students in Civil Engineering at the Sri Lanka Institute of Engineers Examinations. It has also planned to commence postgraduate research (M. Eng.) course in 1984 as stated in the universities first ever corporate plan for the term 1984-1988.
The academic activities in the Faculty of Engineering were transformed from yearly system to the semester system starting from the Intake 2000, with students being assigned to the engineering specializations after the second semester. The department of Mining & Minerals Engineering was also restructured and renamed as Earth Resources Engineering to reflect its expanded scope. The changes encountered during the leadership of Mr. S Weerawarnakula created an inclusive and diverse environment while increasing the number of students to 50. It also introduced two streams, namely “Mining and Minerals Engineering” and “Earth Resources Engineering” to cater the diverse industrial requirements. The first direct intake of students was admitted to the department during December 2000, based on their preference and performance in GCE Advanced Level examination through the University Grants Commission. Consequently, the rest of the Engineering II category, which included Chemical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering I category continued to be in a single group (Engineering MPR) as the common engineering intake.
During 2002/2003 two students from the intake 2000 have co-founded the Earth Resources Engineering Society (ERES) to ensure the social wellbeing of the department communities and promote networking. The society became pivotal for student recreation activities, fund raisings for charity programs, community services and scholarship programs. In 2004, during the headship of Professor UGA Puswewala the department secured a competitive grant from the World Bank for improvement of Relevance and Quality of Undergraduate Education (IRQUE). Subsequently, the undergraduate curriculum was revised in 2006 to introduce four new streams (Remote Sensing & GIS, Oceanography, Gemmology & Jewellery and Geo-environmental Engineering) in addition to the existing Mining and Minerals Engineering stream. These curriculum changes and laboratory expansions were implemented utilizing the funds from IRQUE project. The department, particularly led by Dr DMDOK Dissanayake, made a generous effort to share its newly acquired facilities and resources by offering recreational equipment, gymnasium facilities and the bus, for common use of the faculty and university to provide greater benefits to majority of students.
The department has published the Journal of Earth Resources Engineering during 2005 to share scholarly outcomes of projects and industrial collaborations. Dr S Karunarathne was the editor of this initiative which records as the first ever journal of the University of Moratuwa. The journal was presented at the department-industry get together funded by the IRQUE project. Since then, department was conducting the annual national conference on Earth Resources Management, including a printed volume of proceedings containing full papers. From 2017 under the leadership of Dr HMR Premasiri, the conference was upgraded to International Symposium of Earth Resources Management and Environment (ISERME) by partnering with the Hokkaido University, Japan and it continues as an uninterrupted annual event.
