Profile of the CPSC Director General
Prof. Ganemulle Lekamalage Dharmasri Wickramasinghe, PhD
"Prof. Wick"
The Colombo Plan Staff College is pleased to announce the appointment of Prof. G.L.D. Wickramasinghe, PhD as the 12th CPSC Director General. He is the first Sri Lankan to hold the position and he takes over from the outgoing Director General, Dr. Ramhari Lamichhane, starting September 1, 2021.
Prof. Wick was officially selected during the Special Governing Board Meeting for the Director General Selection on March 18, 2021. He was formally welcomed to the post on August 26, 2021 during a Special Governing Board meeting presided by the current CPSC Governing Board Chairperson Mr. Aung Kyaw Oo, Chargé d'Affaires of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar to the Philippines. This was held online in lieu of the physical travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the new Director General, he will be responsible for representing the Colombo Plan Staff College in its engagements, ensuring that its vision of becoming an “intergovernmental TVET leader for sustainable development” will be carried out to its network of 16 member countries and 2 partner organizations in the Asia-Pacific Region. He will also be the President of the Asia-Pacific Accreditation and Certification Commission (APACC), implementing the continued quality assurance commitment to TVET institutions in the region.
He was born on 21st of November, 1965 in Kegalle, Sri Lanka and is married to Mrs. Vathsala Medhavini Wickramasinghe.
He is a graduate of a Bachelor of Science in Textile Engineering from the University of Moratuwa in 1993 by which he obtained first class honors. He finished his PhD at the University of Manchester in 2003. He also obtained a PG Certificate in Learning and Teaching, the University of Arts London, UK in 2006 and an MBA in the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka in 2008.
Prior to his appointment as the Director General, he was a professor at the Department of Textile and Clothing Technology, University of Moratuwa, Moratuwa, Sri Lanka since 2015. Here also held key administrative posts during his career: as a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Vocational Technology (2016-2019), former Chairman of the Centre for Open and Distance Learning (CODL) of the University of Moratuwa (2015-2016), and former head of the Department of Textile and Clothing Technology (2009-2012).
He also served as the Chairman of Alethea International School (2017-2021), an independent non-executive Director of Orit Apparels Lanka Ltd. (2014-2016), and Sri Lanka Institute of Textile and Apparel (2010-2015). He also served as the Director of Technical and Quality Assurance of the Brandix Textiles Ltd (2013-2014). He also served as chairman and member of various public sector strategic and technical committees.
He also published over 60 research publications on topics related to textile engineering and educational management, of which over 30 are international refereed journal publications.
He was honored with 18 national and international awards including Emerald Literary Award (2018), President's Award for Scientific Publications (2017), and NRC Merit Award for Scientific Publication (2016, 2011). The World Education Congress also honored him with the award for Outstanding Contribution to Education in “Sri Lanka Education Leadership Awards” in 2018.
Prof. Wick brings a renewed commitment of professional and personal excellence to the Colombo Plan Staff College family, and we look forward to the ideas and initiatives that he will bring to further foster CPSC’s presence in the region. We encourage our liaison officers, development partners and stakeholders to welcome and wish him well, as he starts this new journey with CPSC.
