The Surveyors’ Institute of Sri Lanka is the National Professional Body of the Surveying Profession. It is a Founder Member of the Commonwealth Association of Surveying & Land Economy (CASLE) and the Organisation of Professional Associations (OPA). It is also a Member of the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG). The Institute was incorporated by the Parliament Act No. 22 of 1982 (Surveyors’ Institute Sri Lanka (Incorporation) Act).
The Institute evolved into its present form from the Ceylon Licensed Surveyors Association established in 1926. At the Time of its inception, it represented only the Private Practitioners in Surveying and did not represent the much larger number of Surveyors in the State Sector. The Association changed its name to that of the Institute of Surveyors in 1949. Eventually the Institute opened its membership to the large number of Practitioners in the state sector and also the academic field by 1974 thus became representative of all those engaged in the land surveying profession.
By 1975 the membership had slowly grown to 122 from the original 20 at the inception. Since then the membership grew rapidly to 406 by 1980, to 742 by 1990 and to 828 in 2000. At present, the Institute has an active membership of 970.
From 1983 onwards the Institute focused on the need to upgrade the level of survey education in the country by making representations to the responsible authorities on the need to commence a Bachelor’s Degree course in Surveying Sciences. As a result of that the Institute of Surveying Mapping at Diyatalawa (ISMD) recognized as a degree awarding institute by the University Grants Commission under the universities act No. 16 of 1978 and commenced BSc (Surveying Sciences) Degree at ISMD in 1990. The Institute however continued its efforts to have survey education firmly embedded in University education system and its efforts culminated with the establishment of a Department of Surveying Sciences (Now Faculty of Geomatics) at the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka and the commencement of a Special Degree course in Surveying Sciences in 1997.
As was continuously done in the past, the Institute will continue with its recommendations to further improve the Title Registration Act and the Land Survey Act and its implementation. The Institute also conducted many CPD programs to keep the practitioners abreast of new developments in the field. The Consultancy arm of the Institute also undertook extensive surveys for the State Sector by mobilizing its members. Currently a Corporate Plan is being prepared for the period 2013-2017 under which it proposes to diversify its membership to encompass the disciplines of Hydrography and Physical Oceanography, construction and engineering surveys, land management, remote sensing, spatial information and cartography.