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CONTACT DETAILS |
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Department of Plant Sciences
University of Colombo
P.O.Box 1490, Colombo 03
Sri Lanka
Phone : +94(0)11 2585038
Fax : +94(0)11 2585038
Email: office@pts.cmb.ac.lk |
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Department of Plant Sciences........ |
The Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Colombo is a well-established unit in the Faculty of Science and enjoys a reputation for maintaining high academic standards in the discipline. Formerly known as the Department of Botany, the name was changed recently to ‘Plant Sciences’ in order to reflect more clearly, the changes that the department has effected to the courses that it offers. While still covering areas that come within the traditional boundaries of the subject ‘Botany’, the department has taken a conscious effort to include in its teaching programs, courses that cover the newest developments in the field. The courses a student may offer from this department in the first two years of the B.Sc. degree program are diverse and have been designed to address all aspects of Plant Science at a fundamental level. Students opting for a general degree have the opportunity to select in their third year, courses that cover highly applied aspects of the field, such as horticulture, plant diversity management and plant tissue culture technology. |
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Special Degree Programs
The department offers three Special degree programs, the Special Degree in Plant Science, the Special Degree in Plant Biotechnology and the Special Degree in Bioinformtics. The Special Degree in Plant Science provides an excellent training opportunity in field-based plant science courses and caters to students who wish to develop and enhance their skills in aspects of Bio-diversity conservation, Ecology, Forestry, Plant Taxonomy as well as many other aspects of Plant Sciences. The special degree in Plant Biotechnology was introduced in response to the growing awareness of this scientific discipline as a rapidly developing and expanding field, the study of which will have useful applications in the emerging new science and technology based industry, as well as a preparatory course for higher learning in this field. The special degree in Bioinformatics was introduced in 2006/2007 as a response to the current need in training biological science students in analyzing and management of biological data using computer science and information technology. The University of Colombo is the first to introduce such a program in the university system in Sri Lanka. The precursor to this program was the course on "Introduction to bioinformatics" which was initiated by the department of Plant Sciences in 2002.This newly emerged field in biosciences is applicable in a great variety of disciplines such as molecular biotechnology , drug designing and biodiversity conservation. |
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Diploma Courses
The Department conducts two Diploma programmes. Diploma in Biodiversity Management (DBIOM), conducted jointly with the Department of Zoology, is a multidisciplinary course that focuses on biological, legal, social and economic aspects of biodiversity conservation and management. The course provides essential skills and knowledge to become leaders in biodiversity, conservation and management across number of different career paths including opportunities with local authorities, national/international private companies, statutory agencies, non-governmental and research organizations. Diploma in Microbiological techniques is designed to produce a high caliber employee, specially trained to meet up to date requirements in microbiological techniques of many of the biotechnology, agricultural, pharmaceutical, healthcare and food and beverage based industries.
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Facilities
Teaching and research in the department are amply supported by infra-structure facilities such as large lecture halls, teaching and research laboratories, and a well-maintained herbarium. Facilities are also available for Tissue Culture, Molecular Biology, Plant Identification, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Phytochemical analysis and Computing, as well as for field work.
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