Bolgoda chat, crossing the borders in his own way: An interview with Emeritus Professor P A De Silva

Abstract

IPT gained university status in 1972. However, in 1966 we had received a status equivalent to a university, under the name “Ceylon College of Technology”. I remember one interesting incident from that time. The first vice chancellor was Dr. Upali Kuruppu. I was responsible for selecting Junior Technical Officers (JTO), and these were highly capable students who had missed engineering by a narrow margin. There were around 80 deserving candidates, and we were only admitting 40. Late Prof. Patuwathawithana and I (we were both young and junior staff members at that time), approached the administration to request an increase in the intake. Indeed, we had space to accommodate. There was a fear that, if we produced more, there will be no demand. The University of Ceylon was thus unwilling to increase the intake beyond 25 students. Finally, we managed to increase the JTO intake from 40 to 60. The JTO students were very capable. Prof. Patuwathawithana and I started to teach IMechE part II subjects to them. While I taught Heat Engines and Materials, he used to teach Thermo-machines etc. Some of them went on to become chartered engineers, and that too paved the way for the Ceylon College of Technology.