Our History

The Faculty of Information Technology (FIT) was established in June 2001 as Sri Lanka's first faculty dedicated entirely to information technology education. It answered a clear national need: IT graduates from the state universities were not meeting the fast-growing demands of the local IT industry, even though the University of Moratuwa had already built a strong reputation for producing capable IT professionals. Recognizing that IT education could not be sustained within the existing framework, the University established a new faculty built on this accumulated expertise in step with the government's wider policy of expanding IT education. The Faculty began operations from rented premises in Borella while its permanent home at Katubedda took shape. Three founding departments were established at inception as the Department of Information Technology, the Department of Computational Mathematics, and the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies and the BSc (Hons)/BSc in Information Technology commenced, initially offering both three-year and four-year pathways, with entry through the GCE Advanced Level examination and an aptitude test. On 25 October 2001, Prof. R.M.L.P.D.C. Wijetunga was appointed the Faculty's first Dean. In January 2002, the Faculty welcomed its first intake of 50 students, and later that year the Information Technology Society (INTECS) was established, becoming the Faculty's principal student body.

Dr. A. P. Madurapperuma assumed office as Dean on 1 December 2003, the year the Faculty launched its now long-running annual cricket tournament, FIT Sixes. 2004 brought rapid expansion: the MPhil and PhD programs commenced, the first major curriculum revision took effect (applying to Batch 5), and a Faculty-Industry Consultative Board was established to keep programs aligned with industry needs. That year also saw the launch of Sahana, a free and open-source disaster management system developed in response to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, active until 2009 and one of the Faculty's most widely recognized contributions to date. In 2005, the Faculty relocated from Borella to its permanent home at Katubedda, moving into the ground floor of the Sumanadasa Building as student intake rose to 100 (the fifth batch). The same year saw the launch of the Graduate Training Program (GTP) for non-IT science graduates entering the IT industry, and the introduction of short courses for vocational IT trainers. Prof. (Mrs.) S. A.D. Dias became Dean on 1 December 2006. The Centre for Open & Distance Learning (CODL) was established, the foundation stone for Phase I of the new FIT complex was laid, and the Faculty hosted a public IT exhibition on its premises. In 2007, the Faculty extended IT education beyond the campus with the launch of the Bachelor of Information Technology (BIT), delivered through Open & Distance Learning. Phase I of the Faculty building formally opened on 28 August 2008, alongside a further curriculum revision.

Prof. A. S. Karunananda assumed office as Dean on 1 December 2009, opening a period of significant academic transformation. In 2010, the three-year IT degree pathway was discontinued in favor of a single four-year Honours degree, and the Faculty introduced Information Technology & Management (ITM) as a new BSc program, widening access to students from Mathematics, Bioscience and select Arts/Commerce subject streams. In May 2011, the Faculty marked its tenth anniversary with NExIT (National Exhibition of Information Technology), held on the Faculty premises. The Aptitude Test requirement was removed for the IT and ITM programs in 2012, the year Eng. D. K. Withanage became Dean, and the Faculty introduced an MSc in Artificial Intelligence, an early marker of the AI focus that would come to define the Faculty's next decade. In 2013, IFS Sri Lanka funded a new student scholarship program. FIT Future Careers, the Faculty's flagship annual careers fair, was held for the first time in 2014, alongside the foundation-stone laying for Phase II of the Faculty building and the establishment of an IFS-funded networking laboratory. Eng. P. M. Karunaratne assumed office as Dean on 9 May 2015.

This period saw the Faculty build a distinct research and innovation identity. INTECS organized the first CodeRush Hackathon in 2016, drawing over 45 participating teams, and the Faculty hosted the first International Conference on Information Technology Research (ICITR). Phase II of the Faculty building formally opened on 30 March 2017, and that November, QBITS, Sri Lanka's first dedicated Artificial Intelligence Innovation Lab, was declared open at the University, establishing the Faculty at the forefront of AI research nationally. In 2018, the Faculty secured IEEE Sri Lanka Section technical co-sponsorship for its research activities under the direction of Dr. Subha Fernando. The Behavioural Science Laboratory was established in November 2019, broadening the Faculty's research base into interdisciplinary, human-centered computing.

Mr. B. H. Sudantha assumed office as Dean on 29 January 2020. In 2021, the Faculty introduced its third internal undergraduate program, the BSc (Hons) in Artificial Intelligence, alongside a further curriculum revision. An Aptitude Test was reintroduced for the ITM program in 2022 and subsequently removed again in 2024. In 2025, the Faculty organized FIT Expo 2025, showcasing student innovation, research projects and emerging technologies to the public. Prof. (Mrs.) Thanuja Sandanayake assumed office as Dean in 2026, leading the Faculty into its 25th anniversary year and the next chapter of its growth, building on a quarter-century of academic excellence to shape the digital economy of the future.