
Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology was established in 1999 by an Act of Parliament, with ability to award degrees following amendments to the Universities Act the same year. Thus gaining recognition from the University Grants Commission of Sri Lanka and it is also a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU). SLIIT was established primarily to educate and train information technology professionals required by the fast growing IT industry in Sri Lanka. SLIIT is a governmental institution with initial funding from the government. It is a statutory board and a company by guarantee. Although still remaining a public institute under the purview of the Ministry of Science and Technology, unlike other state universities it does not depend on government funding and therefore has a great deal of autonomy. Since its conception it has become the leading degree-granting institute in Sri Lanka for information technology, producing 600 graduates annually.