The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which is ranked as the world’s best university, is sending a team to the newly opened international school Haileybury Bhaluka in Bangladesh for an international student conference in a rare show.
Some 100 students aged 11-14 years from Bangladesh, India and the UK selected through an online application process will take part in the five-day meet from June 11.
Haileybury Bhaluka’s founding headmaster Simon O' Grady made the announcement at a press briefing on Saturday at the Hotel Le Meridien in Dhaka.
Haileybury, affiliated to Haileybury College UK, a school with 164 years of history, started its journey as an international franchise educational institution with 100% residential facilities in Bangladesh last October. Bangladesh’s Best Services Ltd, which owns the Hotel Le Meridien, will run this school located at an outskirt city Bhaluka. The first batch will begin in August as the enrollment is going on.
Haileybury Bhaluka to organize fully residential MIT Summer Workshop“So the MIT event is just the start. It is just the prelude to the school's opening in August,” the headmaster said, as many such events would follow after the beginning of the academic activities.
He said they also have a unique partnership with Harvard University. “This is the only school not in the country, not in the region, but across the continents, that is ever conceived this and achieved this,” he said.
The headmaster said the Bangladesh visit will be the third such occasion for MIT to come out of Boston for such programs.
They will send a 10-member team with four faculties and six graduate students.
This workshop unveils the mechanics behind underwater robotics, AI-powered wheelchairs, and handheld pollution mapping devices, fostering innovation for impactful solutions.
The students will be designing, making and testing vehicles.
“They will be building remotely operated vehicles. They have never done this before. So the first challenge is for them to create their designs. The second challenge is for them to manufacture them, to build a remotely operated vehicle. And indeed, the third test is to prove that they work in a particular context,” the headmaster said, for example.
“The pinnacle of the event is going to be a Harry Potter Quidditch style battle in our 25m swimming pool, where these machines, remotely operated vehicles, will be put to the test. So these are the challenges that we are giving our students,” he said.
The participants will get certificates by the Edgerton Center at MIT.
Haileybury UK's 160-year legacy expands to BangladeshThe Haileybury's presence and the affiliations such as MIT can have a knock-on effect on the overall education system of Bangladesh.
“We are not just bringing exclusive education to Bangladesh; we are on a quest to improve standards throughout education in this country,” said the headmaster.
“Haileybury Bhaluka is the first outstanding international school to come to this country. MIT is the world's best university, and on the 2024 QS rankings, it's ranked as number one in the world. They have chosen to come to Bangladesh.
“What a beautiful thing it is for Bangladesh that only the third time that the MIT have been out of Boston, let alone the US, and therefore it's a significant development for the country,” he said.
Dr Sandeep Ananthanarayanan, academic director, told Dhaka Tribune, after the briefing, that in five days, Bangladeshi students will learn some of the world’s leading methods of design innovation, indulging in robotics, self-maneuvered vehicles, engineering inventions, right here at the Haileybury Bhaluka campus.
“Such focused education from the world’s best is what is required for Bangladeshi students to come up to global standards as leaders. This also showcases the confidence that institutions such as MIT and Haileybury have on the remarkable potential of our nation’s youth. All we require is to expose these young minds to such world-leading learning concepts. And Haileybury Bhaluka is doing that, not just with MIT but also with all its teachers, who are all certified by Harvard Business School,” he said.
