Dr Nawaratne received his first degree from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura winning the top of the batch award in 1977. He received a Japanese Government Scholarship to follow his master degree at the Kagawa University and received his PhD in Management from Keio University in Tokyo in 1993. Prior to his appointment as the Secretary of the Ministry of Higher Education in May 2010, he functioned as the Director Human Capital, Youth Development and Rural Network at Cargills Ceylon PLC., a leading FMCG conglomerate in Sri Lanka. He has held many top level positions in the public and private sector such as the Chairman of the Centre for Strategic Management (Pvt) Ltd, Director General of the Sri Lanka Samurdhi Authority, Advisor to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Secretary of the Ministry of Samurdhi, Rural Development and Parliamentary Affairs, Chairman/Director General of the National Youth Services Council, and Founder Chairman of the Video Team (Pvt) Ltd. He is also a visiting faculty member and a master thesis supervisor for MBA programmes of government universities and education institutions and holds honorary positions as Director, OSCA, YESL, and has represented Sri Lanka in various international conferences organised by the World Bank, ADB and UNDP.