The university has been under much scrutiny ever since the attacks in Gulshan on July 1 and Sholakia on July 7 this year, as some of the terrorists involved were identified to be students of the university.
Chairman of UGC, Prof Abdul Mannan, stated that the UGC is investigating why students of NSU have been found to be involved in terrorism. The investigation will involve questioning executive bodies, faculty members and counseling bodies of the university.
Prof Dr Dil Afroza Begum, member of UGC and convener of the visit to NSU told the Dhaka Tribune, “The visit was a regular meeting with authorities, proctorial bodies and teachers. Since there was an incident on July 1, this year involving NSU students, we wanted to see whether the university is taking any steps to prevent terrorism. Both the executive body and UGC have suggested further surveillance of students.”
University authorities observed that students visit the university two to four days in a week, and spend most of their time outside the university. They have suggested that students may be asked to take more courses so that they can remain within the university for observation.
UGC recommended to the student welfare department to engage them in more social activities.
UGC also suggested that the student body of 20,000 should form smaller groups of 40 students with one teacher. The teacher will be evaluating the students' behavior, results, class discipline, analyze student activities and counsel students to be more engaged in academics.
UGC also advised to provide parents and guardians with student ID numbers, so that they can check student grades and how many courses they are taking online.
UGC also suggested that each and every student should have their attendance tracked, so that missing and dropout students can be easily identified.
Some instances of terrorist activities linked to students from the university involve former student of NSU till 2012, Nibras Islam, who was involved in the Holey Artisan attack and was killed during Operation Thunderbolt and Abir Rahman, a BBA final-year student of NSU till 2015, attacker of the Sholakia Eid gathering, who was also killed by law enforcement. Abir had been missing since March.
In February 2013, six students of NSU were arrested in connection with the killing of blogger Ahmed Rajib Haidar and confessed to their crimes accordingly. Several reports said the accused were Foysal Bin Naim, 22, Maksudul Hasan Anik, 26, Ehsanur Reza Roman, 23, Naim Sikdar, 19, and Nafis Imtiaz, 22.
Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, who was accused of plotting to bomb the New York Federal Reserve Bank in 2012, was also a student of NSU before he entered the United States in January 2012 on a student visa.
The UGC will submit a report to the Ministry of Education upon further observation and analysis.