Events of the year 2023
The Annual Carol Singing and Christmas Oli Vizha for the year 2023 was held on the 20th of December at Kailasapati Auditorium. It was organized by the Department of Christian Civilization of the University of Jaffna in collaboration with the Good Shepherd Chaplaincy of the University of Jaffna. The programme commenced at 10:00 AM.
Rt. Rev. Dr. Justin B. Gnanaprgasam, the Bishop of Jaffna was the Chief Guest. Prof. P. Balasundarampillai, the emeritus professor and the former Vice Chancellor of the University of Jaffna was the Guest of Honour. Prof. S. Raguram, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Mr. Sarveswara Iyer Padmanaban, Dean Faculty of Hindu Studies, Prof. S. Noble Surendran and many other Professors, Heads of the Departments and lecturers participated in the event.
The Welcome and Farewell functions of the Department of Christian Civilization for the year 2023 were organized by the Student Association of the Department on December 22, 2023, at the Good Shepherd Centre, Catholic Chaplaincy of the University of Jaffna. Prof. J. Robinson from the Faculty of Management was the Chief Guest. The event began with senior students welcoming the new students. The freshers were invited to introduce themselves and share their life ambitions. The outgoing students then reflected on their experiences in the Department and expressed their gratitude to their mentors. In his address, Chief Guest Prof. J. Robinson reminisced about his time as a student at the University, particularly his experiences at the chaplaincy. His speech was highly motivational and resonated with the students. The function concluded on a positive note, with everyone sharing lunch together.
The Dept. of Christian Civilization organized a study tour for the students of Level II which took place from the 20th to 22nd of September 2023. The purpose of the study tour was to engage the students in experiential learning by exposing them to the relevant fields related to the curriculum. Pertinent contents of four course units of the curriculum were covered in the study tour. It empowered the classroom learning of the students and became an efficient tool for Learner Centered Teaching (LCT). Further the study tour also provided other soft skills like team spirit, cohesion, sharing, adjusting to different situations and time management. Altogether 17 students participated together with 02 staff members.
The final year students of the above department took part in a workshop together with the students of the Dept. of Western Classical Culture and Christian Culture of the University of Kelaniya. Rev. Prof. J.C. Paul Rohan, Head of the Dept. of Christian & Islamic Civilizations of the UoJ, and Prof. Shirely Lal Wijesinghe of the Dept. of Western Classical Culture and Christian Culture of the UoK jointly organized this workshop. It is a follow up workshop which is being conducted from 2015.
The Vatican Ambassador for Sri Lanka, His Excellency, Most Revd. Dr. Brian Udaigwe was on a three day official visit to Jaffna from the 25th to 27th of July 2023. As a part of his agenda, he paid a brief visit to the University of Jaffna on the 26th of July 2023. Rev. Dr. P.J. Jebaratnam, the Vicar General of the Diocese of Jaffna also accompanied him.
The Department of Christian and Islamic Civilizations organized a meeting of the Alumni Association on the 09th of June 2023. It was held virtually via zoom from 06 pm to 07:15 pm. Altogether 34 alumni from various places actively participated in the meeting.
This alumni meeting became another landmark event of the department for its outreach activities to the soceity as well as for its past students.