Dhaka University (Also Known As the University of Dhaka) is the oldest and the largest public university with a student body of 33,000 and a faculty of 1,800 in Bangladesh. It is located at the heart of the nation’s capital, Dhaka city.
The main reason behind the establishment of Dhaka University was to adopt the modern education system introduced by the British, which Indian Muslim was denied to expect before. Muslims were late to realize that their educational backwardness was a root cause of their decline in social, political and economic areas. While Indian has moved ahead at least 50 years in adopting the system of education.
The establishment of the Dhaka University was compensation of the annulment of the 1905 partition of Bengal. The partition took effect in October 1905 and separated the largely Muslim eastern areas (Modern-Day Day Bangladesh and Assam) from the largely Hindu western areas (Modern-Day Day Indian State of West Bengal). However, the Bengal was reunited in 1911. Following demands by Nawab Sir Khwaja Salimullah Bahadur and others, on 2 February 1912 Viceroy Lord Hardinge proposed that a new University should be established in East Bengal (Now Bangladesh). In 1913, public opinion was invited before the university scheme was given its final shape. The secretary of state approved it in December 1913. Dhaka University was established by the British Imperial Government (Widely Known as British Raj) on first of July in 1921. It was modeled on Oxbridge education (combination of the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge). In early years, a unique feature of the Dhaka University was its non-affiliating, residential character similar to the University of Oxford of the United Kingdom. However, since 1947, the University was given an affiliating mandate in place of an exclusive residential studying character.
Dhaka University has a glorious history, and it has contributed largely not only in Bangladesh but also the whole Indian Subcontinents history. Following the partition of India, it became the focal point of progressive and political movements in Pakistan. Its students and teachers played a central role in the rise of Bengali nationalism and the independence of Bangladesh. Even after the creation of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, whenever the democracy beyond the nation came under attack, the students and teachers of Dhaka University always came forward to protest. Besides education, the University also functions as a central premise for free thought and democratic practices that would lead the nation to its March towards progress.
Dhaka University’s notable alumni include Satyendra Nath Bose, Fazlur Rahman Khan, Muhammad Yunus, Vijayaraghavan, Buddhadeb Bose, Abdus Suttar Khan,Shamsur Rahman, Humayun Ahmed,Muhammed Zafar Iqbaland Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Notable people who received Honorary Doctorate from Dhaka University are, KaziNazrul Islam, Rabindranath Tagore, Sir Chandrasekhare Venkot Raman, Sir Abdur Rahim, Sir Jagdis Chandra Basu, Sir Prafulla Chandra Roy, Sarat Chandra Chattapadhya, Sir Mohammad Shah Aga Khan, A.K. FazlulHaq, SatyendraNath Bose, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Dr. Hiralal De, Dr. MuhammedQudrat-i-Khuda, Professor Abdus Salam, Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad, and many more.
