Agitation for the provision of higher education in the island and for the establishment of a university began by the mid-19th century.

However, indecision regarding the nature and status of the institution to be set up, its location, and eventually the intervention of the First World War hindered further progress, and it was only in 1920 that the government purchased a private building called the "Regina Walauwa" (which came to be known as "College House") for the purpose of setting up the university college.

The first official announcement of the creation of a separate university in Colombo was made in Parliament in the throne speech of 1967.

The new university which came into existence on 1 October 1967 with the Colombo Campus as its nucleus had initially a student population of nearly 5000 reading for degrees in Arts, Law, the Sciences and Medicine and a teaching staff of nearly 300.

1 of 1972, which replaced the Higher Education Act of 1966 altered the complexion of the hitherto familiar University structure.