Sr. Professor Sampath Amaratunge has been appointed as the Chairman of the University Grants Commission by His Excellency the President, Hon. Gotabaya Rajapakse, effective January 2020. Professor Amaratunge received his BA (Hons.) in Economics from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, MA in Economics from the University of Colombo, MSc in Economics of Rural Development from Saga National University, and Ph.D. from Kagoshima National University in Japan. He counts nearly 30 years’ service at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. An authority in Rural Economic Development, Professor Amaratunge has won several awards including the prestigious Research Excellence Award (2002) of the Kyushu Society of Rural Economics, Japan. He has over 75 refereed publications to his credit, both locally and internationally.