Sarath Amunugama, JP is a leading Sri Lankan academic, who is a professor of French and the founding Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Visual & Performing Arts, Colombo. He is a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya.
Amunugama received his secondary education at Kingswood College, Kandy and entered the University of Ceylon before attending University of Sorbonne III, Paris specializing in modern languages where he gained his Licentiate, Master's and PhD. He then gain a DESS from the University of Burgundy.
During his long teaching carrier he had held several distinguished positions such as dean, Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya before benign appointed as the first Vice Chancellor of the newly established University of the Visual & Performing Arts on July 1, 2005. In 2008 he was appointed vice chancellor of the University of Kelaniya.
Sarath Leelananda Bandara Amunugama (Sinhala:සරත් ලීලානන්ද බණඩාර අමුනුගම), MP, SLAS (born July 10, 1939) is a Sri Lankan politician and civil servant. He was the Cabinet Minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs and Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning until April 2010. He is a Member of Parliament from the Kandy District for the United People's Freedom Alliance in the Parliament of Sri Lanka.
He studied at the Trinity College, Kandy and graduated from the University of Ceylon. He joined the Ceylon Civil Service (CCS) in its last intake of cadets in 1962. Following the disestablishment of the CCS he was transferred to its successor the Ceylon Administrative Service which was later renamed as the Sri Lanka Administrative Service (SLAS). During his career in the SLAS he served as Government Agent of the Kandy District, Director of Information, Permanent Secretary to Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and later Chairman, The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd. Before entering active politics he worked as an International Civil Servant for UNESCO headquarters in Paris. He resides in Colombo.
Amunugama is a village in Sri Lanka. It is located within Central Province.