South Eastern University of Sri Lanka (SEUSL), initially known as South Eastern University College of Sri Lanka, was established to fulfill the dire needs of the students of the South-Eastern region, whose education was disrupted due to the civil war in the country. It commenced its activities as a University College in 1995 and continued to be uplifted as a full-fledged national university in 1996. Upon its inception as a state university, it had only two faculties: Faculty of Arts & Culture and Faculty of Management & Commerce. In subsequent years, the university has been able to develop itself through the establishment of four other faculties: Faculty of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Islamic Studies & Arabic Language, Faculty of Engineering, and Faculty of Technology. While celebrating its silver jubilee recently, the university has striven towards continuous development and has been able to raise itself to be at par with relevant standards required for a national university at all levels.

Faculty of Islamic Studies and Arabic Language has been successfully conducting 05 undergraduate Honours degree programs along with Bachelor of Arts (General) degree programs over the years. This is the first time that the Department of Islamic Studies, Faculty of Islamic Studies and Arabic Language, has taken an initiative to offer MPhil/PhD by research. The MPhil/PhD in Islamic Studies at the Faculty of Islamic Studies and Arabic Language, SEUSL, aims at offering a response to demand in this field by training students with MPhil/PhD.

The faculty of Islamic Studies & Arabic Language (FIA) was established in 2005 and has two (2) departments: the Department of Islamic Studies & the Department of Arabic Language. It offers the following study programmes:

1. i. BA (General Degree) in Islamic Studies
2. ii. BA (General Degree) in the Arabic Language
3. iii. BA (Hons.) in Islamic Thought & Civilisation
4. iv. BA (Hons.) in Islamic Banking & Finance
5. v. BA (Hons.) in Islamic Law & Legislation
6. vi. BA (Hons.) in Arabic Language & Literature
7. vii. BA (Hons.) in Linguistics & Translation

The Faculty also has an Interdisciplinary Unit, which offers courses in seven (7) minor fields of study for BA (General Degree):

1. i. Accountancy & Finance
2. ii. Economics
3. iii. Education
4. iv. English
5. v. Political Science
6. vi. Sociology
7. vii. Tamil

MPhil / PhD degree is to be offered

This MPhil/PhD programme aims to respond to a need in the global society for professionals in the field of Islamic Studies. These programmes are therefore open to both local and international students. The programme is strongly committed to training MPhils and PhDs capable of meeting the requirements to work in relevant private and government sectors.

The MPhil/PhD in Islamic studies is, therefore, to prepare students to be able to begin and complete training, in theory, methodology, and research in the field, which are materialized and documented in an original and innovative thesis.

Duration of the Study Programme:

Programme	Minimum Duration	Maximum Duration
MPhil	4 Semesters	8 Semesters
PhD	6 Semesters	12 Semesters

Semester Structure:

Semester I	Semester II
February -July	August-January