The concluding years of the 1970’s recognised a requirement for the tri-forces to obtain not only military expertise, but an academic education, too. Following this necessity, former prime minister, General Sir John Kotelawala, donated 48 acres of his personal estate in Kandawala to the tri-forces in 1980. This grew to be the dawn of General Sir John Kotelawala Defence Academy. The Academy has now matured into a fully-fledged university, consisting of nine faculties, offering both undergraduate and graduate studies.

Several decades into the future, towards this present date, the capacity of Kotelawala Defence University was deemed insufficient to meet the growing demand of students and academics, and inspiration bloomed to broaden this network. Consequently, a corporate plan was developed in 2012 that foresaw a vision to establish campuses in the North and South. Thus, when the opportunity was provided to commence a University Village in Sooriyaweva, KDU accepted the brave challenge of becoming pioneers and establishing not only the Faculty of Computing, but also initiating the Faculty of Built Environment and Spatial Sciences from scratch on 140 acres of land vested by the government.