NCAS Organization: Change and Continuity
The NCAS has gone through an organizational change.
The initiative came from the UGC and the current Chairman, Professor Gamini Samaranayake, when he appointed a Review Committee in March 2007 “to look into whether there is a need to re-orient the NCAS in order to achieve the objectives” better. Although there were delays in completing the work of the committee, the report was handed over in February 2008 with several recommendations and one of which was to amend the Ordinance to reorganize the governing bodies of the NCAS.
As the report said, “what we propose here basically are the amendments to the size and the composition of the governing bodies of the Centre. We believe that the reduced structure would enhance the efficiency and the focus and would enable the NCAS to relate more and more to the development needs of the country.”
However, as the original Ordinance stipulated, the authority of the two governing bodies remained the same as follows.
“The Council of Regents shall be the principal policy making body and the governing authority of the Centre.”
“The Council of Management shall be the administrative and academic authority of the Centre.”
The NCAS Secretariat is the implementing arm of the Centre headed by the Director. The Secretariat, through the Director, is responsible to both the Councils for the day to day activities and the implementation of decisions of the NCAS.