Ehsanul Haque Jasim :
The German University Bangladesh (GUB) will commence its formal academic activities in June this year with a dream of establishing a world-class university in Bangladesh. The university has already got approval from the government as well as the University Grant Commission (UGC). GUB will introduce Bachelor Degree Programme with four-year duration within the framework of current UGC regulation and under the modern German higher education concept.
GUB has enriched its academic plan with a commitment of introducing non-traditional fields of study, particularly agricultural and technology. It will facilitate high quality of education to meet the challenges of current development and to build up capacity in different sectors. The objective of the new university is to explore more opportunities for the students who are willing to build up their prospects, and the education standard of GUB will be reflected more in academic exchange programme between Bangladesh and Germany.
The permanent campus of the university will be built at Ghatail in Tangail district.
The authority has already built the present campus at Gazipur Sadar. Prof. Dr. Saifullah Khandker, a Bangladeshi professor along with some other professors and educationists living in Germany and Bangladesh has taken the initiative of establishing the GUB. A team, including professors of various German Universities, will be involved with the academic activities of the campus.
Prof Dr sc Dr hc mult Micheal Boehme of Humboldt-University of Berlin, who may take over the charge of first Vice-Chancellor of the university, is now visiting Bangladesh to observe the activities of the GUB and evaluate the practicality of the project.
Dr Boehme in an interview with The New Nation shared about the prospect of higher education of Bangladesh alongside with his plan about the GUB and other aspects of the university.
He said, though the German University Bangladesh will follow the modernized higher education system of German and it will have access to the students of that country, the academic curriculum would be relevant to the existing needs in Bangladesh.
The university will provide education to the young students in the priority areas, including agriculture, health, environment and technology. He also said that the Bangladeshi students registered at the GUB would get the opportunity of credit transfer to study in German universities. The university will serve for building a highly skilled, scientific and technical manpower according to global needs.
To ensure international quality, the majority of the teaching staff, including the professors, will come from Germany.
When asked about the mission and vision of the university, Prof Micheal Boehme mentioned various plans of the university. He said, the university would introduce and implement programme in nontraditional academic fields in Bangladesh with special attention to the environment, engineering, food and public health. The university will train its staff to address the challenges in these fields according to international standards.
He said, Bangladesh is an agriculture-based country. In this context, academic syllabus will focus on the subjects relevant to the need of Bangladesh, including Environmental Technology, Food Technology and Human Nutrition, Agriculture Science, Biotechnology, Pharmacy, Toxicology, Environmental Health Science etc.
Mentioning the seat crisis in public universities Prof Boehme said, “As far as I know, a large number of students here in Bangladesh are being deprived of getting opportunity of higher education. This happens mainly due to a limited number of seats in public universities”. The German University Bangladesh will help to mitigate the crisis,” he said.
He hoped that the university would bring a new dimension in higher education in Bangladesh. This will also establish new forms of co-operation in education and research between Bangladesh and Germany.
The university will also play a vital role in developing bilateral relations between the two courtiers.
What will be his plan, when asked, if he takes over the charge of the university, the Germen processor said, he would try to reach the university to an academic illustration in Bangladesh. Among the other objectives of the university, GUB will facilitate job opportunities for thousands of unemployed Bangladeshis.
