The University of Dhaka (also known as Dhaka University) is the oldest university in Bangladesh. Established in 1921 during the British Raj, it has made significant contributions to the modern history of Bangladesh.
It is the largest public research university in Bangladesh, with a student body of 33,000 and a faculty of 1,800. It was identified by AsiaWeek as one of the top 100 universities in Asia. However, since the 1990s, the university has suffered from intensely politicized, partisan, and violent campus politics promoted by Bangladesh's political parties.
The university's distinguished alumni include Fazlur Rahman Khan (pioneer of modern structural engineering), Muhammad Yunus (winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, pioneer of Microcredit), Muhammad Shahidullah (famous educator, philologist, and linguist), Natyaguru Nurul Momen (the pioneer trailblazer of progressive culture, theatre, literature, performing arts, philosophy and arts; who was both an early student & a teacher as well, of Dhaka University), Serajul Islam Choudhury (the country's leading public intellectual and writer), Rehman Sobhan (social democratic economist), Mohammad Ataul Karim (physicist), Abul Fateh (one of the founding fathers of South Asian diplomacy), Buddhadeb Bose (20th-century Bengali poet), and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (the founding father of Bangladesh). It also enjoyed associations with Satyendra Nath Bose, Vijayaraghavan, and Kazi Nazrul Islam.
History
Before Dhaka University was established, near its grounds were the former buildings of Dhaka College. In 1873 the college was relocated to Bahadur Shah Park. Later it shifted to Curzon Hall, which would become the first institute of the university.
The establishment of the university was a compensation of the annulment of the 1905 Partition of Bengal. The partition had established Muslim majority Eastern Bengal and Assam as a separate province, with Dhaka as its capital. All India Muslim League, newly formed in Dhaka, wholeheartedly supported the move. However, the partition was abolished in 1911 due to severe opposition from Indian National Congress and Bengali Hindus. Deeply hurt by the decision of annulment of Bengal partition, a Muslim delegation led by Nawab Sir Khwaja Salimullah Bahadur, the then Nawab of Dhaka demanded a University be setup in Dhaka. To appease the majority Muslim masses of East Bengal, Lord Curzon agreed and declared that a university as a center of excellence would be established in Dhaka. Nawab Sir Khwaja Salimullah, the Nawab of Dhaka, who played a pioneering role in establishing the university in Dhaka donated 600 acres of land from his estate for this purpose.
Residential Facilities
Libraries: The University Library, housed in three separate buildings, is the biggest in Bangladesh. The library holds a collection of more than 617,000 volumes, including bound volumes of periodicals. In addition, it has a collection of over 30,000 manuscripts in other languages and a large number of microfilms, microfiche and CDs. It subscribes to over 300 foreign journals.
Health services: The Medical Center of the University of Dhaka, near the Science Annex Building, offers free medical service and free pathological examinations to students, teachers and staff and also family members of the teachers and staffs. The centre provides service round the clock, seven days a week, with 30 doctors working in shifts. The centre has a dental unit, eye unit, X-ray department and two ambulances.
Cafeteria: There are cafeterias on campus, some of which hold historical and architectural interest. In 1971 Pakistani soldiers killed the owner of the Madhur Canteen. The Teacher-Student Centre, University of Dhaka of the university has its own cafeteria while another cafeteria stands on the Dhaka University Snacks (DUS) chattar. The Faculty of Business Studies has a modern food court for its students.
