The Colombo Institute of Research and Psychology (CIRP), Sri Lanka’s leading school for psychology recently held its graduation ceremony for 300+ students.
The graduates varied from those graduating from foundation and diploma level programmes all the way up to Bachelor’s and Master’s level programmes.
The event was held on January 21, 2023 and is believed to be the single largest graduation ceremony held for psychology students in Sri Lanka. Another specialty of the event was, the 300+ students represented diverse communities in Sri Lanka, which stands testimony to CIRP’s diverse environment which exposes every student to new and unique personalities.
This event also saw the participation of international educational experts who are attached to prestigious universities in Britain and Australia.
Conferring of the degrees was done by Mr. Kiron Shenoy – Director of International Strategy & Academic Partnerships of CIRP , Prof. Sri Kandiah – a Visiting Professor in Psychology for CIRP and Professor at University of Southampton UK ,Ms. Pamela Stagg – Director of Degrees Plus, Representing Australian Partners of CIRP, Prof. Anil Gunathilake – Honorary Dean of CIRP’s School of Health & Life Sciences and the Professor of Pharmacology at University of Sri Jayawardane, and Dr. Ranjith Batuwanthudawe, – Honorary Dean Faculty of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, CIRP.
Speaking about the event, Dr. Darshan Perera said, “The graduation ceremony is a milestone, not only for the graduating students, but for CIRP as well.” This is probably the largest graduation ceremony that was held for psychology students in Sri Lanka and graduating students with the necessary skills to provide psychological services to the community is a key achievement in our attempt to capacity build in mental health in Sri Lanka. Still we give less priority to mental well-being as a nation but , we believe that our students will play a crucial role in society to ensure people take their mental wellbeing seriously. As an institute, CIRP strives to create the experts and send them out to the world, so they could be professionals who not only can make a difference in society, but also encourage future students to take psychology as a viable field of study.