🇱🇰 How to apply to university in Sri Lanka

Applications go through University Grants Commission — admission of students with foreign qualifications. Programmes usually start: Start dates vary by university and faculty (two semesters a year).

Checked on 20 October 2026 against the official sources listed below.

The essentials

Application system: University Grants Commission — admission of students with foreign qualificationsApply to the UGC, not the university: a hard copy by courier and a scanned PDF by email, with a US$100 processing fee. Places are few — up to 0.5% of each course, plus up to 4.5% extra fee-paying places.
When programmes start: Start dates vary by university and faculty (two semesters a year).
International applicants: Foreign students and Sri Lankans with foreign qualifications apply once to the University Grants Commission, which selects candidates by priority group and assigns them to universities on a fee-paying basis.
Language: TOEFL 79, IELTS 6.5 or PTE 51–60 if your first language or previous education isn't English.

Key dates

The UGC publishes a handbook each year with the closing date. For the 2025/26 academic year applications closed on 17 August 2026; the 2026/27 handbook was not yet published when checked.

The dates for the next intake haven't been published yet. We add them once the official source does.

Your checklist

The usual steps for an international student applying to a bachelor's in Sri Lanka, in order. Tick them off as you go — your ticks stay in this browser, with no account.

1.Check that your qualification counts as equivalent to Sri Lanka's G.C.E. A-level: two years' full-time study of three subjects, passed in one sitting.
2.Choose your courses from the UGC handbook, which lists every course and its medium of instruction.
3.Take TOEFL, IELTS or PTE if your first language or schooling isn't English.
4.Pay the US$100 processing fee to the UGC by bank transfer and keep the receipt.
5.Courier the signed application with certified documents to the UGC, and email a scanned PDF of it, by the closing date.
6.Wait for the UGC's selection and offer; the UGC acknowledges applications by email within two weeks.
7.Register with the university you are assigned to.
8.Get a student visa before you travel — tourist visas aren't converted to student visas.
9.Find your own housing; universities don't provide hostel places for this route.

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Next steps

Sources

Written by CollegeMatcher in our own words from these official pages, checked on 20 October 2026. Dates change every year.

University Grants Commission — admission of students with foreign qualifications, 2025/2026 handbook