The cabinet has approved the proposal of establishing a new specialised university in the country aiming to expedite the pace of development of information and communication technology education.
The proposal was approved in a routine cabinet meeting at the Secretariat yesterday, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in chair.
The Ministry of Education will implement the project, which will be the 34th public university in the country, with an estimated cost of Tk372 crore, and on a priority basis. The student enrolment will likely begin in the 2016-17 academic session, sources at the ministry told the Dhaka Tribune.
After the meeting, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said the cabinet had approved, on principle, the draft of the “Digital University Bangladesh Act 2014,” which proposed to establish the university at Gazipur Hi-Tech Park.
He said the cabinet discussed the issue of naming the university, and after a lot of argument, decided to name it after Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Approval of the Bangabandhu Memorial Trust would be sought in this regard, before the cabinet gives final approval to the draft, the cabinet secretary added.
He also said the draft act had set an attractive salary structure and allowances to draw the brilliant and competent teachers and researchers, from both home and abroad, to teach at the university.
It will also provide distant and online education on ICT and will have a connection with the ICT industries. Two noted personalities who are management or technical experts on the ICT will be members of the academic council.
Regarding the student enrolment, Education Secretary Nazrul Islam Khan said they had decided to start the enrolment in the 2016-17 session, though the initial plan was to do it earlier.
“We can go for a makeshift arrangement to start the academic session, but before that we need to finalise the curricula,” he told the Dhaka Tribune, adding that the minister would conduct a seminar to finalise the curricula soon.
“This will be a multidisciplinary and research and technology-based institute of international standard. I can assure that this university will make a significant difference,” the education secretary said.
According to the draft act, the university will provide education in science, engineering and technology, and the ICT, and conduct research on theoretical and practical issues.
Apart from that, there will be studies and research on digital technology, biotechnology, digital management, digital development and advanced technology.
According to the draft, the postgraduate students as well as researchers will get accommodation, scholarships and allowances.
Sources said the Bangladeshis who are teaching in foreign universities might be encouraged to return home to teach and research in the university.
“We have arranged for better salaries and other benefits that can attract the highly qualified teachers,” Nazrul said.
The vice-chancellor would be appointed by the president from a pool of three academics selected by a five-member search committee, he said.
The lowest rank of the university teachers will be assistant professor, who must have a PhD or an equivalent degree, according to the draft.
The university will also communicate with foreign institutes for studies and research and its library will offer all facilities through latest technology.
The University Grants Commission started to formulate the plan after the prime minister, at a public meeting in Gazipur on February 24, 2010, promised to establish a university for ICT education in the country.
Before the premier’s pledge, a similar initiative was taken in August 2009 by Mostafa Jabbar, the then president of Bangladesh Computer Samity, who signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the then Ministry of Science and Information Technology, but that initiative never came to fruition.
