Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga has accepted an invitation to join the international Council of Patrons of the Asian University for Women (AUW) in Chittagong, Bangladesh.

As a member of the AUW Council of Patrons, former President Kumaratunga will be in the company of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, First Lady of Japan Akie Abe, UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova, the Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg, former Chief Secretary of Hong Kong Anson Chan, former Italian Foreign Minister Emma Bonino, and former Danish Environment Minister Lone Dybkjaer.

The AUW provides young women with a pathway to service-oriented leadership via an internationally recognised liberal arts undergraduate program, and feels that the first female President of Sri Lanka, with decades of experience in challenging barriers facing women and working to foster an inclusive and pluralistic society in Sri Lanka and beyond, would enhance regional participation for Sri Lanka’s young women, at the university 

The University, which is the product of an east-west foundational partnerships (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Open Society Foundation, IKEA Foundation etc.) serves talented women from 15 countries across Asia and the Middle East, including Sri Lanka. Since AUW’s founding in 2008, 53 Sri Lankans have graduated from the university, and 10 currently attend.