The country’s first Aviation University will be set up in Ashkona area of the capital city, which is near Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.
This was decided at a meeting held at the Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) Headquarters on Tuesday. Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon was present on the occasion.
The meeting selected 12 acres of land in Ashkona area to establish the first Aviation University of the country. The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) is the owner of the land.
The meeting also decided that the planned university would have education exchange programmes with three renowned universities of the United Kingdom. The universities are: Middlesex University, Brunel University and City University. All the three universities are in London.
At the meeting, Air Commodore Yeazdani made a PowerPoint presentation on the prospects of the aviation university. Air Chief Marshal Abu Esrar, Civil Aviation and Tourism Secretary S M Golam Faruk and CAAB Air Vice-Marshal Ehsanul Gani Chowdhury attended the meeting.
The meeting was told that the university would help meet the increasing demand for skilled manpower in aviation sector at home and abroad. Besides, it would also help increase foreign exchange earnings by attracting prospective overseas students.
According to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the global aviation sector requires 23,000 pilots and 30,000 aircraft maintenance staff each year.
The demand in the next 20 years will be 3 lakh 50 thousand for pilots and 4 lakh 80 thousand for technical staff when 25,000 new aircraft will be added to the different airlines across the globe. Of the 25,000 new aircraft, 17,000 will be new generation high speed commercial aircrafts.
