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News Room

Two new departments at NSU According to our sources, two new departments, namely, Department of Master of Science in Biotechnology and Department of Master of Public Health (MPH) programmes have been introduced at North South University (NSU). Chairman of University Grants Commission (UGC) Dr. M. Asaduzzaman formally inaugurated the two new Masters programmes as chief guest while NSU Foundation Chairman Mr. Iftekharul Alam and Vice Chancellor Dr. Hafiz GA Siddiqi were present as special guests. The launching ceremony was presided over by NSU Pro-Vice Chancellor Dr. SAM Khairul Bashar. With the two new programmes, the number of graduate and undergraduate programmes of the university has gone upto 18.	Animation workshop held at AUB A 2 day long workshop on '3d Animation' was organized by Asian University Computer Club on June27-28. Prof.Md.Haider Ali , head of CSE of Dhaka University and the chairman of Animedia arts inaugurated the program as the chief guest. He stated that animation has huge demand as more and more TV programs, movies, cartoons and advertisements are incorporating animation. Animation has opened new job opportunities. Such workshops would help students to broaden their professional working experience. The workshop was conducted by Arif Ahmed, animator and Rafiqul Islam, director of Animedia Arts. The workshop was attended by 150 students of CSE department of Asian University Bangladesh.
DU economics department to improve quality education THE department of Economics of Dhaka University has taken various measures to improve the quality of education for students. To ensure the bright future of students they have taken initiatives to provide students with scholarships, computer laboratory and multimedia centers. The department has managed scholarship worth taka 13 lac to support the poor but promising students on their own accord. With the amount about 100 students will be awarded an annual scholarship worth taka 12,000. A computer lab with more than 52 workstations is installed for the students to browse the internet and make photocopies at minimum cost.	IUB- HECUA Programme wins US Andrew Heiskell Awards 2006 IUB - HECUA programme for study of society, economy and culture in rural Bangladesh has won the fifth annual Andrew Heiskell Awards, USA for innovation in international education. The other two innovative programmes that received recognition are " Training International Entrepreneur from US rural South Carolina and Brazil " and " Integrating Global competence into degree programs." This IUB program drew the attention of US academics and since 1999 US students have been regularly participating in it with IUB students.
New academic faculties at AIUB AIUB is on its way to launch its new 'Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences' hopefully from September this year, and that Faculty will start its grand journey through a full-fledged English Department. Other departments like Mass Communication & Journalism, Media Arts, and Public Health would soon follow through. But it's the initiation of 'BA in English' program that we all are looking forward to. This program would have majors in both language and literature along with additional major and minor provisions from BBA courses.

Merit scholarship awarding ceremony at East West University

The Merit Award Scholarship Ceremony of East West University for the Summer Semester 2006 was held in June 2006 at the university auditorium. In the ceremony, seventy four students received full tuition merit scholarship and seventeen were awarded Medha Lalon Fund Scholarship. The estimated number of beneficiary during this year could be 1000 (20 per cent of the total enrollment) and they will receive an amount of approximately Taka three crore (10 per cent of the tuition revenue) as merit scholarship and in other forms of need based financial assistance.

Mr. Osman Morad, Chief Executive Officer, Standard Chartered Bank graced the program as the Chief Guest and distributed certificates among the merit scholarship earners. Dr. Mohammed Farashuddin, the founder Vice Chancellor and President, Board of Directors, East West University urged the meritorious students to shoulder responsibility in their respective areas for making a democratic and prosperous Bangladesh. He recalled the introduction of the scholarship program and praised the founders of the university, the faculty members. Welcoming the Merit Scholarship holders by Dean, Faculty of Business and Economics Professor Abdul Hye congratulated the Merit scholarships winner for their outstanding achievement. Ms Suraiya Ahmad, Joint Registrar, East West University also spoke on the occasion.

Workshop on localisation at BRAC University

Hammad Ali

The second boot camp for localisation or translation of OpenOffice.org documents in Bangla was held at BRAC University on 14th July, at BRAC University. OpenOffice is a completely open source office suite. The workshop was organized in collaboration with Ankur and the BRAC University Computer Club (BUCC). A total of twenty volunteers attended the event. The workshop was directed by Mr. Jamil Ahmed, co-ordinator, Ankur. Also present were Mujahidul Islam Sujan and Mahey Alam Khan from Ankur, and Annajiat Alim Rasel and Nafid Haque from BRAC University. A total of more than 2100 lines of text were translated during the four-hour long workshop. There were also discussions on the different aspects of the localization process. All those interested in this localisation process can join the following yahoo group for more information: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bangla_l10n

The first localisation workshop was held in Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) on 10th June. About eighteen volunteers attended that event, and over 2000 lines of text were translated.

The slogan for the second workshop was “Our love for our mother tongue is not limited to a single day of February”. BUCC deems the event to have been immensely successful, and are proud to have been a part of the localisation efforts in Bangladesh.

Orientation at Eastern University

Eastern university (EU) welcomed the newly admitted students of summer 2006 in a ceremonial orientation programme at the Russian Cultural Centre in June.

Professor M. Moniruzzaman Miah, commissioner, anti-corruption commission and former chairman of National Education Commission was present as the chief guest.

Vice chancellor of EU Dr. Rahim B Talukdar presided over the ceremony. He informed the audience, mostly fresh students and their parents, that EU currently runs 5 departments and each department has teachers with excellent academic background. Aminul Islam, pro-vice chancellor of National University was present as special guest.

Stamford University wins debate championship
Mainul Hassan

Stamford University scored massive victory by winning their first ever final against DU at the Aktel Drissti Debate championship 2006. The finals were held in Chittagong on 13 July.

Four teams participated at the finals namely, Stamford University, Dhaka University, CUET and Premier University. Stamford University became the champion and Dhaka University became runner-up. Abdullah Md. Shukrana President of Stamford Debate Forum led Stamford team to victory. He was accompanied by Abdullah Al Rezwan. Shukrana said, " Our winning over DU proves our quality. People usually don't have a good view of the students studying at a private university. Well, now they will have to think again." Shukrana is a student of the department of EEE and Abdullah al Rezwan is from department of LAW. The winning has sparked a huge response in Stamford University. The Chief Coordinator of Stamford Debate Forum Tahsina Yasmin said, " This is our first ever massive win and we have won by beating three teams including DU so we had to work very hard.