Spotlight

VC Prof AMM Safiullah on future Buet

BUET's Vice Chancellor Prof AMM Safiullah talked about a future Buet that would be better prepared to fight the challenges of the 21st century in its effort to find a place among the world's best technical universities.

“If you compare with the laboratories of leading technical universities, our laboratories are not upto the mark. That is why we take the development of our laboratories as one of the top priorities,” he said in his inherent soft manner. Prof. Safiullah said the quality of research would improve a lot if students and faculties had access to modern laboratories.

“Raising funds for procurement of equipment and their maintenance is a difficult task. We can link industries with the university in research that can reduce the fund crisis. But there are few other problems exclusive of fund constraints. Better research works need sufficient staff that we lack. It is difficult for the teachers to manage sufficient time for doing basic research.”

He informed that the Buet authorities are thinking about giving more importance on postgraduate programmes. “Currently we are busy with undergraduate students and spending most of our time with them. But now we are thinking about increasing the number of postgraduate students so that we can concentrate on research.”

On examination system in Buet, Prof. Safiullah said, “We have discussed the issue formally and many teachers agreed on bringing some realistic changes in the examination system. As we have made the changes on the basis of recommendations of our students, they have also welcomed them.”

Buet at-a-glance

Vice Chancellor: Prof AMM Safiullah
Faculties: 5 [Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Architecture and Planning.]

Departments: 16 [Dept. of Architecture (Arch), Dept. of Urban & Regional Planning (URP), Dept. of Humanities (Hum), Dept. of Civil Engineering (CE), Dept. of Water Resources Engineering (WRE), Dept. of Electrical & Electronic Engineering (EEE), Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering (CSE), Dept. of Chemical Engineering (Ch.E), Dept. of Materials & Metallurgical Engineering (MME), Dept. of Chemistry (Chem), Dept. of Mathematics (Math), Dept. of Physics (Phys), Dept. of Petroleum & Mineral Resources Engineering (PMRE), Dept. of Mechanical Engineering (ME), Dept. of Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering (NAME), Dept. of Industrial & Production Engineering (IPE)]

Institutes: 3 [Institute of Water and Flood Management (IWFM), Institute of Appropriate Technology (IAT), Institute of Information & Communication Technology (IICT)]

Research Centre: 6
Directorates: 3 [Directorate of Advisory, Extension and Research Services (DAERS), Directorate of Students' Welfare (DSW), Directorate of Planning and Development (P&D), Directorate of Continuing Education (DCE)]

Teachers: 545(as of July 2007)
Officers and Support Staff: 1119 (as of July 2007)
Under Graduates Students: 4785 (as of April 2007)
Post-graduates Students: 3635 (as of April 2007)
Students in Post-graduate Diploma: 129 (as of April 2007)

Library: books 1,32,200, journals 100 titles
Publication: [Journal of Mechanical Engineering Research and Developments, Chemical Engineering Research Bulletin, Bangladesh Journal of Water Resources Research, Electrical and Electronic Engineering Research Bulletin, Protibesh (Research Journal on Architecture), BUET Studies]

Residential Dormitory: 8 [Ahsanullah Hall, Ladies Hall, M. A. Rashid Hall, Nazrul Islam Hall, Sher-e-Bangla Hall, Suhrawardy Hall, Titumir Hall, Shahid Smriti Hall.]

Website: http://www.buet.ac.bd
[Source: Buet website]