The university authorities set the ball rolling for the centenary celebrations by unveiling a theme, 'Achieving Sustainable Goals and Building a University Suitable for Fourth Industrial Revolution and Creating Skilled Human Resources', on Thursday.
The theme is focussed on three basic things -- improving the quality of education and development of the overall environment, expanding the area of basic practical research and publications, and strengthening the field of international cooperation.
Elaborate programmes have also been planned on the university campus to celebrate the occasion, including unveiling a master plan for ensuring quality education and expanding the area of research as well as publication of two books.
Authorities will also hold seminars, set up a centenary monument and unveil a special souvenir, apart from organising an essay-writing competition on 'Dhaka University at Centenary: Achievements and Expectations'.
Cultural programmes and photography competition will also be held on the occasion, the authorities revealed at a press conference at Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban in the presence of DU Vice-Chancellor Professor Md Akhtaruzzaman.
President M Abdul Hamid, also the chancellor of the university will inaugurate the grand ceremony of the centenary celebration, to be held on July 01 next year on the campus.
The two books -- ‘History of Dhaka University’ by Prof Dr Ratan Lal Chakraborty, and The Role of Dhaka University in Making and Shaping Bangladesh’ by Dr. Abul Kalam Azad Chowdhury -- will also be released on that day, the authorities said.
Six global seminars on different topics will be held. The participants would include former students, noted educationists and researchers from home and abroad. It's expected that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, a former DU student, will inaugurate them on January 21.
Also, an international conference will be held in London from July12-14 next year, with an aim to develop the alumni's views on higher education in Bangladesh and to forge collaborative agreements with eminent scholars and European universities.
Princess Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise, the only daughter of British Queen Elizabeth II, has been invited to inaugurate the conference as a special guest, the university authorities said.
Dhaka University, which is considered as the country’s highest echelon for academic excellence, started its academic activities on July 1, 1921, with 12 departments, three faculties, 60 teachers, 877 students, three residential halls on 600 acres of land.
After 99 years, the university has 13 faculties, 13 institutes, 84 departments, 60 bureaux and research centres, 19 residential halls, four hostels, 138 affiliated colleges and institutions, 46,150 students and 2,008 teachers.
The university played a vital role in the country’s history. Its students and teachers sacrificed their lives in the 1952 Language Movement, 1969 Mass Upsurge, during the 1971 Liberation War and the anti-autocracy movement in 1990.
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