University of Rajshahi

The University of Rajshahi (Bengali: রাজশাহী বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়), also known as Rajshahi University (RU), is a public research university located in Rajshahi, Bangladesh. It is the second oldest and third largest university in Bangladesh. The university's 59 departments are organized into 12 faculties. It is one of the five autonomous university by the act (1973) of Bangladesh.

History

The first proposal to establish a university came in 1917, when Calcutta University created the Sadler Commission to assess the university system in Bengal. However, the recommendations of the report had no immediate consequences.

The University of Dhaka was established in 1921. Demand for a university in the northern part of East Bengal gained momentum when two universities were set up quickly in West Pakistan, using funding diverted from East Bengal, without the establishment of any in the east. Students of Rajshahi College were at the forefront of the movement demanding a new university. Finally, Rajshahi was selected as the home for the second university in East Bengal, and the Rajshahi University Act of 1953 (East Bengal Act XV of 1953) was passed by the East Pakistan Provincial Assembly on 31 March 1953. Itrat Hossain Zuberi, the principal of Rajshahi College, was appointed its first vice-chancellor.

Initially, the university was housed in temporary locations, such as the local Circuit House and Boro Kuthi, an 18th-century Dutch establishment. B B Hindu Academy, a local school, housed the library, teachers' lounge, and the medical centre. The university started out with 20 professors, 161 students (of whom 5 were females) and six departments — Bengali, English, history, law, philosophy and economics. In 1964, the offices moved to the permanent campus.

The 1960s were a turbulent period in East Pakistan, when demands for East Pakistani autonomy became stronger. The students and staff of the university started playing an increasing role in politics. On 18 February 1969, Shamsuzzoha, a professor, was killed by the police when he tried to prevent them from shooting at student demonstrators. This date is now commemorated as Zoha Day. During the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, the campus was used as a base by the Pakistan Army. A number of professors, students and officers of the university were killed by the Pakistan Army.

After independence, a new Act regarding the administration of the university came into being — the Rajshahi University Act, 1973. The post-independence years saw the university grow steadily in student enrolment and the size of the academic staff. However, the 1980s were turbulent for the university, as the students agitated with other institutions of the country against the military rule of Hossain Muhammad Ershad. Since the early 1990s, the university has seen relative calm and a lowering of session backlogs, though active student politics remains a contentious issue.

Emblem

The circle of the emblem represents the world. An open book is shown in red and gold: red represents one of the colors of the national flag and gold the value of education. The body of the book is blue, the colour of the sky, and at the centre is a shapla flower (Nymphaeaceae), the national flower of Bangladesh.

Campus

The university's main campus is in Motihar, on the eastern side of the city of Rajshahi and a mile from the Bangladeshi coast of the river Padma. The campus area is nearly 305 ha (753 acres). Access to the walled-off campus is controlled through three security gates. It houses eleven large academic buildings — five for the arts, business studies and social sciences, four for the natural and applied sciences, and two for agricultural studies. RU is considered to have one of the most beautiful campus in Bangladesh.

Rail line and University Station

The Dhaka-Rajshahi rail line passes through the campus, and it has a dedicated station named the University Station. It is near the Shaheed Shohrawardy Hall on the southern border of the campus. There is an internal bazaar nearby for the students only, called the station bazaar.

Gates

There are six gates of the university, three being upon the Dhaka - Rajshahi Highway. The westernmost gate is the Kazla gate, which provides access to the western part of the campus mainly playgrounds and residential areas. The easternmost gate is the Binodpur gate, which provides access to the eastern part of the campus, and the Main gate in between these two provides access to the main administrative and academic portion of the campus. The fourth gate is on the other side of the campus and provides access to the campus from the other side of the city. The main gate is used to create an architectural optical illusion while entering or exiting the campus through it, as it seemed to the visitor that the more he tries to go nearer the more the Administrative Building goes far away.

Forests

There is an artificial forest on the campus. Called "Matihar Udyan", it is situated on the easternmost side of the campus. The university fire station is situated near its southern side.

Parks, lakes and sanctuaries

There is a central part of the university near the Shaheed Minar Complex. It is a small park providing a very good environment and a place for spending leisure for the students and residents of the campus. Rajshahi University Botanical Garden is also a park inside the campus, home to some very rare species of trees and plants. There used to be a mini park-like plantation near the main gate, but it was cut down during the mid-2020s. There are two big lakes inside the campus. One is behind the Shaheed Shamsuzzoha Hall, popularly known as the Shorobor and another is behind the female hostels known as a part of the Jungle Genome Project. Apart from these, there are nearly fifty ponds around the campus.

There is a large bird sanctuary inside the campus called the Jungle Genome Project. It is an ecological project of the Zoology Department, and it has natural plantations and lakes inside it.

Facilities

Museums

The university is the site of the two oldest museums in Bangladesh. They are - the Varendra Research Museum, which is the oldest museum in Bangladesh, and the Shahid Smriti Sangrahasala, which is the oldest liberation war museum in Bangladesh.

A few miles from the main campus is the Varendra Research Museum. It is one of the richest repertory of Bengal sculptures in the world. Established in 1910 by Ramaprasad Chanda, the museum became a part of the university in the 1960s when a financial crisis threatened its existence. Under the university, the museum has thrived, adding a folklore gallery to its impressive collection from ancient and medieval Bengal.

Zuberi Bhaban Guest House

Juberi Guest House is one of the earliest structures on the campus. It is actually a complex of guest houses, a lounge and a café. Zuberi House is the home of Rajshahi University Club, and it is the centre of the political activities of the teachers and fellows. There are four buildings providing caravansary facilities for the guests of the university. It provides gymnasium facilities for the teachers, and it has a well-maintained lone tennis court.

Sport and other facilities for cultural activities

Rajshahi University Stadium seats 30,000.

There is a swimming pool with stands for spectators and a gymnasium and indoor stadium situated near the stadium.

Architecture

The University of Rajshahi is home to many architectural and artistic landmarks. To the east inside the main gate is the colonial era Motihar Kuthi building, now used by the university's unit of the Bangladesh National Cadet Corps. Most of the university's academic, cultural, residential and administrative buildings are of modern architectural style. The Shaheed Minar is an important example, complete with a mural designed by Murtaza Bashir. The Senate House is a modern mini-parliament house, has 206 rooms and is fully air-conditioned. It is usually used for meetings of the senate of the university, but it accommodates national and international conferences, seminars and symposia. In front of the Senate House is Shabash Bangladesh, one of the largest war memorial sculptures, designed and constructed by Nitun Kundu. The name comes from a poem by Sukanta Bhattacharya of the same name, the last four lines of which are engraved under the structure.

Golden Jubilee Tower, a 2003 addition to the university's array of sculptures, commemorates its 50th anniversary. It is right beside the main gate. It also has an open theatre and two beautiful murals. Other well-known buildings include the library and the university mosque. The Department of Fine Arts hosts a sizeable collection of contemporary art, while Varendra Museum has a large collection of ancient and medieval art.

Organization and administration

The university is run according to the Rajshahi University Act, 1973. This Act, passed on 25 September 1973, allows the university considerably more autonomy than most other peer institutions. The president of Bangladesh is the de facto chancellor, but the role is mainly ceremonial. The highest official after the chancellor is the vice-chancellor, selected by the senate of the university every four years. The vice-chancellor, as of June 2017, is M. Abdus Sobhan.

Other important officers include the pro vice-chancellor, the registrar, the controller of examinations, and the proctor. The proctor is in direct charge of student activities and is the official with the most direct contact with the students. The most important statutory bodies of the university are the senate, the academic council and the syndicate.

Most of Rajshahi University's funding comes from the government. The Bangladesh University Grants Commission is the body responsible for allocating funds to all public universities.

The tuition fees are relatively low; nevertheless, a hike in admission fees, during the 2006–07 session, drew criticism from student bodies. In 2007, the university awarded a total of 340 scholarships, whose annual value is around 1.1 million taka. In addition, there are merit awards given by residential halls, departments and the university itself. Students are eligible for the Prime Minister's Gold Medal award.

All colleges of the northern and southern regions of the country used to be affiliated with the University of Rajshahi. However, the administration of colleges across the country was taken over by the National University when it was established in 1992.

Faculties and departments

The university's 59 departments are organized into 12 faculties: Arts, Engineering, Fine Arts, Law, Science, Business Studies, Social Sciences, Life Sciences, Earth Sciences, Agriculture, Fisheries, Veterinary & Animal Sciences. The Arts and the Law faculties are the oldest, both established in 1953, closely followed by the Faculty of Science (1956) and the Faculty of Engineering (est. 2009). The university's departments represent the traditional studies in arts, commerce, sciences and engineering through programs such as English, history, languages and linguistics, economics, business studies, mathematics, applied mathematics, physics, computer science & engineering, chemistry, statistics, geology & mining, geography, psychology, zoology, botany, etc. The university is increasingly emphasizing more specialized programs such as pharmacy, biochemistry, Information and Communication engineering (ICE), genetics and breeding.

Faculty of Life Sciences

• Botany
• Zoology
• Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology
• Microbiology
• Clinical Psychology
• Psychology

Faculty of Arts

• Prominent departments in the faculty of Arts are
• Department of Philosophy
• Department of History
• Department of English
• Department of Bengali
• Department of Islamic History and Culture
• Department of Arabic
• Department of Islamic Studies
• Department of Music
• Department of Theatre
• Department of Persian Language and Literature
• Department of Urdu
• Department of Sanskrit

Faculty of Fine Arts

The Faculty of Fine Arts has 3 departments;

Faculty of Law

The Faculty of Law has two departments:

Department of Law

Department of Law and Land Administration

The Department of Law is one of the pioneer institutes for graduate-level legal education in Bangladesh as well as in South Asia. It was the first institution in South Asia that offered B.Jur. Honours (Bachelor of Jurisprudence) from the year 1970. Now it offers LLB (Honors), LLM, Evening LLM, MPhil and Ph.D. in the field of Law. It has a great number of alumni and former members of the faculty around the world including former Chief Justice of Bangladesh, former Prime Minister of Bangladesh, current and former ministers and many former and current judges of the apex courts of Bangladesh and many more formidable legal and political minds of the country. Abul Hasnat Muhammad Qamaruzzaman was a student of this department.

The Department of Law and Land Administration was established in the session of 2015–16. It is the pioneer department in Bangladesh in the field of education on Laws relating to land administration, land management and land survey. All core courses of Law are taught here. Graduates of this discipline can apply for all jobs which are for Law graduates, including the positions of Assistant Judge and Judicial Magistrate. They are able to practice as both civil and criminal lawyers and also as Income Tax lawyers. In addition, they are able to apply for jobs in the field of land administration/management. It is currently under consideration that a separate BCS Cadre (Land) may be created and graduates from this discipline will only be able to apply for those jobs. The programs offered by this Department include LLB (Honours), LLM, MPhil and Ph.D.

Student life

Housing

The university has 18 residential halls for students, six for women and eleven for men and one International Dormitory. The halls are named after prominent Bangladeshi historical and cultural figures, some of them from Rajshahi. The largest men's hall is Shaheed Habibur Rahman Hall, named after a mathematics professor killed on campus during the 1971 war by the Pakistani Army. The largest women's hall is Monnujan Hall, followed by Begum Rokeya Hall, named after Rokeya Sakhawat Hussain, a leading figure in women's rights activism in Bengal.

The housing system can accommodate more than 10,000 students, which has created a deepening accommodation crisis as the student body has risen to 25,000. Apart from the seat limitations, the amenities of these halls do not always meet decent accommodation standards. This has led to the establishment of many privately owned off-campus "messes". The residential halls provide meals, which are subsidised by the university authorities.

Activities

The physical education department of the university has 27 instructors and is equipped with a 25,000-seat stadium, two gymnasiums, one swimming pool, four football grounds, one hockey ground, four tennis courts, two basketball courts and a squash court.

The Teacher Students Center was designed to be the centre of cultural activities of the university. The reception of fresh students, the celebration of national holidays, and the annual cultural competition are key cultural events at the campus. The university is home to recitation groups like Shwanan, and drama groups like Anushilon and the Rajshahi University Drama Association. A vibrant fine arts scene thrives around the Department of Fine Arts, and the campus hosts exhibitions each year. The university has branches of all major national cultural groups, including Udichi and Gono Natto Shongstha.

Эх сурвалж: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)