Professor SJMNG Samarakoon

Nimalakith Samarakoon is a Professor of Economics attached to the Department of Economics and Statistics at the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka. She joined the university's Department of Social Sciences as a Senior Lecturer (Grade II) in September 1997. She holds a PhD in Economics from the Kyiv Institute of National Economy, Ukraine, and an MSc in Economics (specializing in Accountancy and Economic Analysis) from the Kharkov Engineering and Economic Institute, Ukraine. Both her postgraduate qualifications in Ukraine and her prerequisite undergraduate studies in the USSR were completed under full scholarships.

Prior to joining the university sector, she served as an Executive Officer at Associated Motorways, a prestigious Sri Lankan public limited company, from 1994 to 1997. This corporate sector experience has significantly enriched her academic, administrative, and managerial contributions within the university system.

Professor Samarakoon has over 23 years of experience in teaching Economics and related disciplines. Throughout her academic career, she has organized and coordinated numerous academic programs and events, including seminars, conferences, and postgraduate diploma programs for both undergraduate and postgraduate students. To meet the evolving academic needs of the department, she introduced two undergraduate course units—Monetary Economics and Applied Economics—offered in both English and Sinhala mediums.

Her research interests encompass capital markets, labor force participation and migration, and childhood-related studies, with her findings published in both national and international peer-reviewed academic journals. She possesses extensive expertise in university teaching, academic research, institutional administration, and higher education quality assurance.

Professor Samarakoon has held several senior academic and administrative leadership positions at the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, including Acting Vice-Chancellor, founding Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Languages, Head of the Department of Social Sciences, and founding Director of the Internal Quality Assurance Unit (IQAU) of the university. She has also served as Academic Warden for the university girls’ hostels, as well as Chairperson and Board Member of the Board of Study in Social Sciences within the Faculty of Graduate Studies.

In addition to her internal university responsibilities, she has served as a consultant and quality assurance expert for both national and international higher education institutions. She has contributed as Chairperson and Member of Programme Review Teams and as a reviewer for national quality assurance processes across 12 undergraduate degree programs in 09 Sri Lankan universities. Internationally, she has evaluated degree programs across 7 academic departments as a Quality Assurance Expert for public and private universities in Bangladesh.

Professor Samarakoon played a key administrative and monitoring role in the World Bank-funded Higher Education project, "AHEAD" (Accelerating Higher Education Expansion and Development)—one of Sri Lanka’s largest higher education initiatives, valued at approximately US$100 million. During the project's execution from 2019 to 2024, she contributed significantly to monitoring and evaluation activities. Working with the AHEAD human resources team, she supported the provision of PhD opportunities for approximately 200 academic staff members, as well as Fourth Induction training for about 169 university administrative and financial officers recruited since 2016 of the university system at the Postgraduate Institute of Management, University of Sri Jayewardenepura. Furthermore, under her leadership, the AHEAD Results Area-01 STEM team successfully oversaw the completion of 12 buildings, including 5 dedicated to university faculties of technology.

She also served for four years as Chairperson of the University Housing Committee, during which she successfully secured substantial government budgetary allocations for academic staff housing at Sabaragamuwa University. Her multifaceted experience in academics, administration, research, and quality assurance reflects a sustained commitment to strengthening higher education, institutional development, and academic excellence in Sri Lanka.

         Life   Member of Sri Lanka Economic   Association (SLeA)

         Life   Member of Sri Lanka Evaluation  Association (SLEvA)

Life   Member of Population Association of Sri Lanka (PASL)

Life   Member of Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science (SLAAS)

Migration, Female  Labour Force Issues ,Youth Aspirations ,Child Care and Stock Market

Ongoing Research Projects

The Impact of Macroeconomic Variables on Stock Market Interactions: The Sri Lankan Experience

    Please follow the Google Scholar link to see the publications

Participation in Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Programmes/Extension Courses/Short Courses/Visiting Lectures

CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (CPD) PROGRAMMES

21-24 /02-2023: Completed the 4 - day Online Certificate course on “Tableau for Business Analytics via ZOOM” conducted by the Institute of Applied Statistics Sri Lanka IASSL, sponsored by the World Bank funded “AHEAD project”.

19 -22 /07-2022: Completed the 4 – day Online course on “Analysis Multivariate Time Series and Modeling Volatility using R & EViews” conducted by the Institute of Applied Statistics Sri Lanka IASSL, sponsored by the World Bank funded “AHEAD project”.

12/2021 – 03/2022: Completed a 30-hour online Professional Training on Speechcraft Program in Success Communication and Success Leadership series of TOASTMASTERS INTERNATIONAL, Sri Lanka, for the Department of Economics and Statistics, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka conducted by the Siyane Toastmasters Club ,1553096, sponsored by the World Bank funded “AHEAD project”.

12/12/ 2021: Completed a oneday workshop on “Why we use Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)/Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) Methodology in the Development Process” conducted by the Centre for Evaluation, on 12^th December,2021 at the Renuka City Hotel, Colombo 03.

11/2020 – 12/2020: Professional Training on English Medium Teaching (Teaching Knowledge Test – TKT – CLIL) completed 60 hours online, conducted by the Australian College of Business and Technology, (ACBT)Sri Lanka., sponsored by the World Bank funded “AHEAD project”. 

01/2017 -03/2017: Completed a 50-hour Certificate Course in Business Communication Skills at British Council, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

14^th-18^th/12/ 2009: Completed a workshop on “Application on SPSS for Windows”, conducted by the Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.

08/2006: Completed a Certificate Course on Methods of Survey Research and Survey Data Analysis Using SPSS, conducted by the Department of Demography, University of Colombo.

01/2002 – 06/2002: Completed Training Programme on Teaching Methodology, Staff Development Centre, University of Peradeniya.  

06/2000 –06/2001: Diploma in Advanced English for Administration and Academic Purposes, University of Colombo.

1982 – 1986:Method of Teaching Russian as a Foreign Language, Kharkov Engineering Economic Institute, Kharkov, Ukraine, USSR.

Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences and Languages, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka. | 03/05/2005 -2/05/2008 

Acting Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences and Languages, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka. | 03/05/2008 -2/07/2008

Director, Internal Quality Assurance Unit, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka. | 02/05/2014 -31/05/2016

Program Coordinator of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences and Languages. | 05/03/2014 -04/03/2016

Chairperson in the University Housing Committee, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka. | 01/07/2014 -15/05/2019

Project Coordinator, Social Harmony of the Local Technical Secretariat of IRQUE Project, WB project. | 01/10/2004 -30/09/2008

Academic Warden (Part-time), Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka. | 01/02/2000 -31/12/2001 | 01/04/2002 -31/03/2003

Student Counselor, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka (Two years). | 23/10/1997 -22/04/1998 | 16/10/1998 -15/10/1999 | 06/12/2010 -05/03/2011 | 29/02/2016 -28/05/2016

Senior Treasurer, Students’ Association of Faculty of Social Sciences and Languages, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka. | 1997/1998 Academic Year  |1998/1999 Academic Year |1999/2000 Academic Year

Vice President of Sabaragamuwa University Teachers’ Association (SUTA). | 29.04.2014 - 25.03.2015

Member of the Board of Study of the Sri Lanka Military Academy, Diyathalawa. August,2007 to July 2008. | 15/08/2007-14/08/2008

Chairperson of the Board of Study of Social Sciences, Center for Graduate Studies, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka. | 01/01/2015-31/12/2015

Member of the Board of Study of Social Sciences, Faculty of Graduate Studies, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka. | 01/01/2018-14/05/2019

Member of the Standing Committee on Humanities and Social Sciences, University Grants Commission of Sri Lanka. | 03/05/2005- 02/07/2008

Member of the Senate of Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka (Not during the services as the Head of the Department and the Dean) . | 

Senate Nominee of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Languages. | Senate Nominee of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Languages. | Senate Nominee of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Languages  |Senate Nominee of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Languages

ECO 212     Economy of Sri Lanka

ECO 221    Intermediate Macroeconomics

ECO 222    Applied Economics

ECO 312   Monetary Economics