News Room

Openness in South-Asian societies has created "Political space" for reforms

A. H Lutful Hassan

From left: Prof. Omar Rahman, Dr. Shantayanan Devarajan, Prof. Bazlul Mobin Chowdhury and Dr. Tanvir A. Khan

South Asian Counties -- Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and others will have to accelerate sustain the economic growth they have achieved so far and "make it more inclusive, strengthen human development and improve governance", said Dr. Shantayanan Devarajan, Chief Economist, South Asia region, World Bank.

He was the keynote speaker at a seminar titled "Can South Asia End Poverty in a Generation?" this morning, ortganized by the Development Studies Group, Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) and conducted by students. The seminar was also addressed by Dr. Tanvir A. Khan of Development Studies Group and Registrar, Prof. Omar Rahman, Pro-Vice Chancellor and Vice Chancellor Prof. Bazlul Mobin Chowdhury.

Dr. Devarajan said that the fast reduction of poverty will require overcoming of various government failures that pervade the South-Asian landscape. While government failures are notoriously difficult to correct, the fact that reducing some of them in the past has contributed to the subcontinent's recent success, and the increasing openness of South-Asian societies, have created "political space" for the policy and institutional reforms, needed to lift 400 million people out of poverty, he added.

Dr. Devarajan underscored a number of problems such as unemployment, slow rise of agricultural production, big size and excessive interference by government, instiutional weakness and such other factors which are causing hindrance to rapid economic growth as well as poverty reduction. He also expressed his anxiety over the fast growing economic disparity and inequality of income and added that within the country also there is wide regional inequality of growth which is further complicating the issue.

He suggested some measures which include bringing down of corruption level, improvement in institutional weakness of governance, reduction of the size of public sectors, less regulatory framework, etc. and pointed out that the problem is not technical but managerial as a whole. Dr. Devarajan highly appreciated the macro-economic management in Bangladesh and commented that this is the best in the South-Asian region.

Fresher Orientation for summer 2007 at EWU

The orientation program of the newly admitted students for Summer Semester 2007 in different undergraduate programs of East West University was held at the university Auditorium on Saturday, May 19, 2007.

Professor Nazrul Islam, Chairman, University Grants Commission of Bangladesh graced the orientation program as the chief guest while Mr. Jalaluddin Ahmed, President, Board of Directors, East West University was the special guest of the occasion.

Professor Mohammed Sharif, Vice Chancellor, East West University in his concluding remarks as a program chair highlighted the existing infrastructure facilities, qualified faculty members in terms of quality, knowledge and experience and availability of merit scholarship schemes of the university.

Professor Mohammad Musa, Pro-Vice Chancellor gave the welcome remarks. Professor Md. Abdul Hye, Dean of the faculty of Business and Economics, Professor Abu Saleh Abdun Noor, Dean of the Faculty of Sciences and Engineering also spoke on the occasion.

Among others, Dr. Mohammed Farashuddin, founder Vice Chancellor, Dr. Saidur Rahman Lasker and Mr. H. N. Ashequr Rahman, Board members of the university were present on the occasion. Chairpersons, faculty members, and staff members attended the program.

Happy birthday to academic Muntasir Mamun

Academics, students, colleagues, writers, poets and media personalities of the country celebrated the birthday of Professor Dr Muntasir Mamun of University of Dhaka on 24 May. Muntasir Mamun is known at home and abroad as a multi-faceted intellectual who takes deep interest in various educational, social and political issues besides teaching full time at the university as professor of History. Prof. Mamun has proved time and again that he is not ready to compromise with his convictions and ideals, especially those concerning the liberation of Bangladesh.

Muntasir Mamun has written and edited a number of books and helped in establishing Bangladesh Lekhok Shibir and Bangladesh Lekhok Union. He is a recipient of Bangla Academy Award, Itihash Parishad Award, Lekhok Shibir Award, Dr. Hilali Gold Medal, Agrani Bank Award and Mercantile Bank Award.

Lecture series at IUB

Dr. Fakrul Alam, Professor of English, University of Dhaka will give a talk on the subject 'Edward Saeed after Orientalism' at 5:00 pm on 30 May at C5, Room # 101, Library Building, Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) House # 6, Road # 14, Baridhara. This is a part of Lecture Series on English Studies organised regularly by IUB.

RU vacation begins

Students of Rajshahi University (RU) have started to leave the campus as a 39-day summer vacation started on last Wednesday.

Classes and examinations will remain suspended till June 30 but offices will remain open during the vacation.

Official sources said, many departments have however voluntary decided to take classes and examination during the vacation.

Classes and other regular academic activities will resume on July 1.

Wall Magazine Exhibition 2007 IBAIS University

“Wall Magazine Exhibition - 2007” organized by the students of Business Administration was held at IBAIS University on 7th May. The programme was inaugurated by Prof. Dr. Arifur Rahman, Dean of Business Administration; Prof. Dr. Farid Uddin, head of Business Administration; and presided over by Asst. Prof. Sohail Ahmad. Course instructor of Management Information System (MIS) of the University attended the opening session as a special guest. It is for the first time that this sort of exhibition was arranged at the department of Business Administration. The magazine was created on different topics under MIS. So, it created a lot of enthusiasm among the students. The touch of creativity with smart presentation was on every wall. The decoration and composition of the wall magazine was unique and wonderful in nature. It was decorative as well as informative. The one-month long exhibition will end on 7th June, 2007.

Orientation of 072 batch at NSU

Sabrina Hasan Shoily

The orientation ceremony of 072 batch of North South University (NSU) was held in the city's Bashundhara Convention Centre on May 20, 2007. The honourable Vice Chancellor Dr. Hafiz G.A. Siddiqi spoke at the occasion, along with him, the Registrar, Proctor, Director of the BBA program, etc. delivered their speeches. The new students were made familiar with the rules and regulations of NSU. They were encouraged to fulfill their duties as students and asked to make their institute, families and the country proud by their academic achievements. Later on, a cultural show organised by North South University Shangskritik Shangathan (NSUSS) took place and refreshments were served.

Seminar organized by CFS and Alliance Francaise

On 21st May 2007, Center for Foreign Studies (CFS) and Alliance Francaise de Dacca Jointly organized a Seminar promoting education in France with the participation of ESC Bretagne Brest, a French Graduate School of Management to attract Students from Bangladesh in pursuing their higher studies.

The Guest Speaker in the Seminar was Laurent Jalicous, Deputy Director Cultural Affaires Alliance Francaise de Dacca and DR. Babu Abraham, Director MBA of ESC Bretagne Brest, France.

The purpose of the Seminar was to Introduce …

(1) Educational environment in France.
(2) esc Bretagne Brest, French esc history, facilities & programs offered in English for International students.
(3) Admission/ Enrolment requirement & procedure
(4) Part Time employment availability during education
(5) Career Development & Employment opportunity upon Graduation
(6) Comparatively low Tuition Fees structure and break down in budgeting affordable Boarding & Lodging expense.
(7) Student Visa application formalities, eligibility & documentation.

Babu Abraham (Director MBA) of esc Bretagne Brest gave detail briefing, conducted Interviews and interacted cordially with the participants. It was a full house affair and the turn out over fifty (50) potential students impressed all with the conviction that defiantly if education in Franc is promoted with effective strategy Bangladeshi Students will opt for France as their choice of destination.

Job Fair on RMG Sector at BUET

Md. Abu Hasan

The department of Industrial and Production Engineering (IPE) organized second consecutive Job Fair on Ready Made Garments (RMG) sector in cooperation with South Asia Enterprise Development Facility (SEDF) on 18 May, 2007 at Department of IPE, BUET. Fifteen RMG and Textile companies participated and 30 students from the out coming batches was the job seeker. The registration was free of cost for the participating companies. Viyellatex, DBL Ltd, N.A.Z Composite, Burlingtons Ltd, Daewoo and Babylon Group were among participating companies.

The main objective of the event is to help RMG sector in finding suitable Industrial Engineers for their respective companies. RMG sector in our country is now the leading business segment. Through RMG, almost 75% revenue of the country comes. More than 4000 small and large garments factory are operating their business and great news is that in every two and half days, one more garment factory is being constructed. But the fact is that RMG sector of Bangladesh still suffering from several drawbacks in terms of productivity, management, human resource development, marketing etc. The department believes that only the industrial engineers can reform the production processes, production management and human resource management towards improvement to face ever-increasing competition of the global market. Through several studies conducted by the department, it is well understood that the industries are not much aware about the tools and techniques of Industrial Engineering for the development. However, several promotion activities had been conducted by the department to make them aware about the Industrial Engineering concepts and their applications as well. Some of the promotion activities were Career Talk, IPE day, Round Table Discussion on RMG, Seminar on Knit and Sweater sub-sector, Training Program on Garments Production Management, Participating on Corporate Bazaar-2007, Job Fair-2006 and Industrial Practice of the students of IPE (Internship) in several RMG factories etc.

E-mail: hasan_ie@yahoo.com
The writer is a final year student, Department of Industrial and Production Engineering (IPE), BUET

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