Department of Marketing

Message from the Head of the Department

Dr. Premarathne Gamage

It is with pleasure that I welcome you to the Department of Marketing, Faculty of Management and Finance, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. The University of Colombo with a proud history of over 115 years, is widely acclaimed to be one of the most prestigious educational institutes of the country. Concurrently the Faculty of Management and Finance offers a multitude of programmes at various levels and among its seven departments, the Department of Marketing is a twelve-year old department having around 180 students and sixteen permanent teaching faculty, with two programmes specialized in Marketing and Hospitality and Leisure Management (HLM).

Our course content is designed and constantly updated to help you acquire vital marketing skills to face the dynamic corporate world and is equipped to give you the needed theoretical exposure along with the chance to learn practical aspects through various continuous assessment projects.

While being grateful for the continuous support given by Prof. M.P.P.Dharmadasa, Dean of the Faculty of Management and Finance, the commitment and hard work put in by all academic and non-academic members of the department, I also appreciate the trust that students have placed in joining with us over the years, to walk the path on this specialized branch of Marketing education.

I hope that the years spent in University of Colombo will leave you with richly rewarding and memorable experiences along with the necessary skills to discover and exploit opportunities, and rise to higher heights. Bon Voyage!

Former Heads of the Department

Academic Staff

Visiting staff (HLM)

Bachelor of Business Administration  in Marketing

BBA (special) degree programme is designed in a way where it produces graduates with necessary marketing skills coupled with theoretical and practical exposure blended with balanced mixture of ingredients.  This degree programme is able to produce a fully-fledged marketing professional who can handle any marketing issues in this dynamic and contemporary business world.

Bachelor of Business Administration in Hospitality and Leisure Management

Master of Business Administration  in Marketing

MBA in Marketing is mainly intended for Marketing Managers / Managers who are aspiring to be members of the corporate management team with specialization in marketing competencies.

Welcome of Marketing Department 2022

The Department of Marketing organized an event to welcome the 3rd year marketing specialized undergraduates back to the faculty on 14th September, 2022. This was after a long break of conducting academic sessions online due to the prevailing challenges in the country. The first part of the programme consisted of a guest session by Mr.Sudash Liyanage, Head of Environmental Science at Hayleys Agriculture Holdings Limited, with over 21 years of Senior Managerial experience in the marketing field. The second half of the programme was a series of outbound activities with the aim of fostering team spirit among students who were physically meeting each other after a long spell, as well as to enrich the interactions between departmental staff and students. It was enjoyed by one and all and ended on a positive note with a round of singing and refreshments. 

Meet a marketer (Monthly Department Unit)

Meet a Marketer is a monthly event organized by the Students’ Association of the Department of Marketing with the patronage of Mr.Eranjana Kathriarachchi. The objective of this event is to share the corporate world experience among our students in order to prepare them for corporate challenges. In the year 2021, this event too was conducted on a virtual platform. Despite different practical difficulties, the Department was able to conduct three Meet a Marketer guest sessions.
The First ‘Meet a Marketer’ webinar was organized focusing on global marketing. The resource person for the session was Mr. Dushan Waduwavala (Deputy General Manager – International Marketing, Alumex PLC). With his experience of over 15 years in international marketing, he enlightened students on areas such as entry and expansion strategies in global markets, executing marketing communications in foreign markets and managing cultural barriers in foreign markets. The Second ‘Meet a Marketer’ webinar was organized with the theme ‘Essentials to be successful in the corporate environment’. This webinar was organized with the objective of providing marketing undergraduates insights on the marketing profession and educating them on the essentials of being successful in the corporate set-up. Ms. Isurini Wickramanayake Alahakoon (Senior Manager – New Business Development, Hemas Manufacturing) was the resource person in this session. She shared the story of her career progression as a marketer reflecting on the journey from being a marketing undergraduate to an award-winning corporate personality.
The Third. Meet a Marketer’ Webinar was organized on the theme ‘Brand You’. This webinar was organized with the objective of enlightening marketing undergraduates on personal branding. The FMF Department of Marketing alumnus Ms. Ruwandi Perera shared her expertise on personal branding with a focus on evolving of one’s personal brand beyond the classroom. In addition, the session comprised of insights on being independent in the corporate sector.

Inzperia- 2021 (Annual Event)

Inzperia ’21 was a galvanizing event organized in conjunction with the course MKT 3236-Event Management under the patronage of Dr.Maduka Udunuwara and Ms.Shanika Lakmali. While this is an annually conducted event, due to the prevailing pandemic situation in the country, this year’s event was held on a virtual platform. This year’s theme for Inzperia‘21 was the ‘Road to Success’, which included inspiring dialogues conducted with three well-known business personalities from three dynamic industries. The purpose of Inzperia 2021 was to enable the creation of outstanding marketing graduates who are well equipped to meet the ever-changing industry requirements. Mr. Dulith Herath (the founder and chairman of Kapruka.com, Java lounge and co-founder of Grasshoppers Pvt. Ltd.) , Mr. Dilhan C . Fernando ( Chief Executive Officer, Dilmah tea), and Mr. Malaka Rubasinghe (Managing director at SINGHE, Fonder at WAVE Bolgoda by SINGHE) were invited as Guest speakers for Inzperia 2021 and the event was held on 23rd October, 2021. More than 100 students and lecturers participated in this virtual event which turned out to be a huge success

Staff training – Monthly departmental research forum

The monthly Departmental Research Forum was initiated by the Department of Marketing in the year 2021, with the objective of providing its staff members with the opportunity to discuss contemporary research topics on marketing. It is also intended that this forum will enable sharing of knowledge and experience among staff members in conducting research, which will stimulate a rich research culture in the department. Every month, a research paper is selected by the appointed moderator for that month and circulated among the rest of staff members well in advance. Another departmental member undertakes the presentation of the key summary points of the selected paper and afterwards each member takes turns to share his/her observations and evaluations on the specific research. Three monthly sessions have so far been conducted during the months September, October and November.

Felicitating teachers and farewell ceremony

The final year undergraduates of the Department of Marketing organized a felicitation and farewell ceremony on a virtual platform on 16th July, 2021. The event was organized with the participation of all marketing and HLM stream students who took the time to appreciate each lecturer individually through a special message of appreciation. Even though this was earlier planned to have on a physical setting, the event had to be limited to a virtual ceremony due to covid lockdown restrictions.

Inzperia- 2019 (Annual Event)

Inzperia ’19 is a galvanizing event organized by the Department of Marketing and Department of Hospitality & Leisure Management for the undergraduates in the faculty of Management and Finance. It is an event with inspiring speeches given by different industry experts and our own faculty past students. This event aims to deliver the audience with rich information and also it gives an opportunity for the past students to reminisce about their time in the faculty. On 1st of November 2019 Mr.Amitha Amarasinghe (Chief operating Officer –Neo@ogilvy Sri Lanka) has invited as a Guest speaker and – Mr.Nuwan Rathnayake (brand Manager, Nestle) & Ms.Bagya Erathna (Front Office Management trainee- Cinnamon bay-beruwala) also invited as the speakers in this event. More than 150 students, lecturers, and non-academic staff have participated and enjoy the musical show organized by the committee.

Meet the marketer (Monthly event)

Meet the marketer is an event organized by the student association of the Department of Marketing who invite a person in the corporate world to share his/her experience. The objective of this event is to share the corporate world experience among our students being ready for corporate challenges. In that manner Mr.Prathiba Perera (Director of Events, the product of the Faculty of Management & Finance, University of Colombo) conducted the first session about the “Event management” for 3rd year marketing students and Mr.Dinesh Gunaratne (Digital creative lead @ shift, the product of Faculty of Management & Finance, University of Colombo) conducted the second session about the “Evolution of advertising traditional to digital age” on 19th of November 2019.

Department Day out and Annual welcome -2020

The Department Day Out was organised to welcome the third-year students who had selected Marketing and Hospitality and Leisure Management (HLM) as their specialization. Final year students of the department organized the outing at the Wijaya holiday resort, Kiriella along with the participation of the academic and non- academic staff of the department on 19th of February 2020. This programme was organized under the guidance of Dr.Fazeela Jameel Ahsan, Head of the Department of Marketing. Its objective was to promote interaction between students and academic staff of the department and also to familiarize the new batch of students with the academic content of the programme and to improve their knowledge.

General Convocation 2020- Department Achievements

• Mrs. Thrimali Dharmasiri Gold Medal for the Best Performance in the Subject of Marketing Management in the BBA Degree Program – SN Abeysekera
• Chartered Institute of Marketing, Sri Lanka Gold Medal for the Best Performance in Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing Degree Program – V Thavendrakumar
• NOLIMIT Gold Medal for the Most Outstanding Performance in Global Marketing – WDST Navodya

Students’ Acheivements

“CIM” Gold Medal and cash prize for the Best Performance in the BBA in Marketing Degree Programme.

Gold Medal and cash prize for the Best Performance in the BBA in Marketing

• Name – Thulasi Jeyabalasingam
• Registration Number – 2013/MS/5726
• Name of Degree Course – Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Marketing
• Year – 2018

“NOLIMIT” Gold Medal and cash prize for the most out standing performance in Global Marketing.

“Amana Bank” Gold Medal and cash prize for the most outstanding performance in Business Ethics and Corporate social responsibility in the BBA in marketing.