History /Facilities / Alumni and Faculty Members
History University of Dhaka
The University of Dhaka was established in 1921 under the Dacca University Act 1920 of the Indian Legislative Council, it is modelled after British universities. Academic activities started on July 1, 1921 with 3 faculties, 12 teaching departments, 60 teachers, 847 students and 3 residential halls.
It is believed that a combination of political, social and economic compulsions persuaded the government of India to establish a University at Dhaka 'as a splendid imperial compensation' to Muslims for the annulment of the partition of Bengal. The first vice-chancellor of the university, Dr., later Sir, Philip John Hartog, a former academic registrar of the University of London for 17 years and a member of the University of Calcutta Commission, described this phenomenon as the 'political origin' of the institution.
The Partition of Bengal in 1905 provided the Muslim majority community of East Bengal and Assam with a sphere of influence of their own and raised new hopes for the development of the region and advancement of its people. But its annulment, barely six years later due to stiff opposition from the powerful Hindu leadership, was viewed by Muslims as 'a grievous wrong'.
A deputation of high ranking Muslim leaders, including Sir Nawab Khwaja Salimullah, Khan Bahadur Chowdhury Kazimuddin Ahmed Siddiky Nawab Syed Nawab Ali Choudhury and A. K. Fazlul Huq, met Lord Hardinge, the then Viceroy of India, on January 31, 1912 and expressed their fears that the annulment would retard the educational progress of their community. As compensation for the annulment of the Partition, as well as protest against the general antipathy of Calcutta University towards Muslims, the deputation made a vigorous demand for a university at Dhaka. In response, Lord Hardinge acknowledged that education was the true salvation of Muslims and that the government would recommend the constitution of such a university to the Secretary of State. This was confirmed in an official communiqué on February 2, 1912.
Initially, the university under the British administration worked hard to build up an outstanding record of academic achievement, earning for itself the reputation for being the 'Oxford of the East'. The university contributed to the emergence of a generation of leaders who distinguished themselves in different occupations in East Bengal. Until the Partition of India in 1947, it maintained its unique character of being one of the few residential institutions of higher learning in Asia. In 1947, it assumed academic authority over all educational institutions above the secondary level falling within East Bengal. In the process, it became a teaching-cum-affiliating institution. This transformation, coupled with its unprecedented growth in the years that followed, put strains beyond reckoning on its human as well as material resources.
A new phase began in the history of the University with the emergence of the People's Republic of Bangladesh in 1971. This has been a phase of development, expansion and consolidation of earlier gains. The University assumed a central role in the academic pursuits of the region including this new nation.
Facilities at University of Dhaka
The University contains about 220 Trusts and Foundations offering scholarships and medals to meritorious students of the University. Besides, a large number of scholarships are also offered by the University, Dhaka University Alumni Association and the Government.
Halls of Residence
A dormitory is called a Hall in the university. Students admitted to the Departments and Institutes of the University have either to reside in or be attached to a hall of residence. The University has thirteen halls of residence and two hostels for male students; and four halls of residence and one hostel for female students. The administration of a hall is headed by a Provost who is assisted by a number of House Tutors and Assistant House Tutors while the administration of a hostel is controlled by a Warden assisted by Assistant Warden
Currently, the construction of a Twin Hall for female students is in progress.
Library
The University Library, housed in three separate buildings, is the largest in Bangladesh. The Library holds a collection of more than 617,000 volumes, including bound volumes of periodicals. In addition, it has a collection of over 30,000 manuscripts on various languages and a large number of microfilms, microfiche and CDs. It subscribes to over 300 current foreign journals. A complete automation of the system is in the process. The Confined Section of the Main Library Building contains numerous rare books.9University of Dhaka Library provides a wide range of scholarly electronic resources but, for licensing reasons, most of them have to be restricted to members of the University of Dhaka. A number of international electronic journals /research databases are made available via the PERI programme of INASP. Most of the resources can be accessed within the university network without any password where some of the resources require user ID and password. Health Services: The University of Dhaka Medical Centre
The Medical Centre of the University of Dhaka, located near the Science Annex Building, offers free medical service and free pathological examinations to students, teachers and staffs of the University and also family members of the teachers and staffs. The Centre provides service round the clock, seven days a week, with 30 doctors working in different shifts. The Centre also has dental unit, eye unit, x-ray department and two ambulances. The Centre has in its premises arrangement for 30 bed accommodation so that students suffering from such contagious diseases as chicken pox, mumps, etc. may be taken care of in isolation.
Resource Centre for the Visually Impaired Students
A Resource Center for the Visually Impaired Students has been established in the Dhaka University Central Library under the joint collaboration of the University of Dhaka and an international organization, called Sight-savers. The Centre contains modern library facilities for the visually impaired students of the University.
Sports and Extracurricular Activities
The University of Dhaka organizes sports and other extracurricular and recreational activities.
The Office of the Director of Physical Education provides three types of programmes:
Compulsory Physical Education,
Certificate Course in coaching major games and sports, and
Intramural and Extramural programmes.
The University of Dhaka Ground is the official stadium of the University of Dhaka. It hosts many inter-collegiate sports tournaments at inter-city, provincial and national levels.
Intramural and Extramural Programme.
The Directorate also organizes and conducts interdepartment and inter-hall tournaments, individual hall athletics, Dhaka University athletics, and Inter- University games and sports. University students participate in national championships in different games and sports for which prior training and coaching are offered.
Cafeteria
There are some cafeterias in the Dhaka University area. Some of them are historically important.The Madhur Canteen is not only a cafeteria, but also a place of historical interest of Bangladesh.
Transport
University of Dhaka has transport services for its students. Though the number of the bus is not sufficient for the vast student community it is a great dervice to students. The bus schedule for different parts of the city can be found in the bus depot.
Alumni and Faculty Members
Muhammad Yunus is the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner
Fazlur Rahman Khan is one of the greatest structural engineer of the second half of the 20th century.
Satyendra Nath Bose, Fellow of Royal Society, is best known for providing the foundation for Bose-Einstein statistics and the theory of the Bose-Einstein condensate.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was a Bengali politician and the founding leader of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, generally considered in the country as the father of the Bengali nation.
Abdus Suttar Khan was a distinguished aerospace researcher
Abul Fateh with Austrian Foreign Minister Bruno Kreisky, Vienna, 1962
Muhammad Shahidullah was a famous Bengali educationist, writer philologist and linguist.
Shamsur Rahman was a Bangladeshi poet, columnist and journalist, who emerged in the latter half of the 20th century, wrote more than sixty books of poetry and is considered a key figure in Bengali literature.
During the Bangladesh Liberation War, Syed Nazrul Islam served as the acting President of Bangladesh in the absence of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He obtained degrees in history and law from the University of Dhaka and was an active student political leader in the Muslim League.
Abdullah-Al-Muti Sharfuddin was a famous scientist and science writer of Bangladesh. He obtained MSc degree (1953) in Physics from the University of Dhaka.
Leela Roy née Nag was a radical leftist Indian politician and reformer, and a close associate of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. She fought with university authorities and became the first woman to be admitted to the University of Dhaka and earned her M.A. degree.
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