News Room

Weeklong art workshop at RU

Md.Mamun Abdul Kaioum

Fine Arts Department of Rajshahi University (RU), British Council and Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts jointly arranged a weeklong art workshop on British Artist Stephanie Quayle's works on 28 February, 2008.

The program was inaugurated at 11 AM in the presence of RU Vice-Chancellor Prof. M. Altaf Hossain. Subir Chowdhury, Director of Bengal gallery and Syed Masud Hossain, Program Manager of British council were the special guests. The opening ceremony was chaired by departmental chairman Prof. Amirul Momanin Chowdhury. British artists Stephen Quayle and Clerk Mitlen were present as instructors.

Second year student of Mass Communication and Journalism.
University of Rajshahi.

“Management skill development video show” by DUMC & British Council

DUMC (Dhaka University Management Club) and British Council successfully conducted a program titled “Management skill development video show” on the 27th of February at the British Council auditorium. The program was launched with the purpose of exploring the management skills of students of the Department of Management Studies of Dhaka University.

All the DUMC members were invited to join in this session and the participation was overwhelming. The show started off at 12 pm with an impressive video on “The 10 sins of communication”. The video highlighted some real life experiences of managers from various organizations. The show gave a detailed idea of what “NOT TO DO” while communicating.

The show continued with another video on “Management Self Development”. The video gave an in-depth analysis on how a manager can improve the strengths and work on the weaknesses in an effective manner. The show continued with another impressive video on “Leadership”.

The idea of the show was to put forth some new ideas in the inquisitive minds of the students of Management Studies Department of Dhaka University. Thanks to DUMC and British Council, the show was a success.

Orientation Ceremony of BUBT held

The Orientation ceremony of the newly admitted students of Bangladesh university of Business and Technology(BUBT) was held on February 25, 2008.

Mr AFM Sarwar Kamal, Chairman of the Syndicate of BUBT was the Chief Guest on the occasion and the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Md. Abu Saleh presided over the occasion.

SUB hosts Project Exhibition of Architecture Students

The Department of Architecture, State university of Bangladesh organized a Project Exhibition at the Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts. The exhibition was inaugurated by S M A Faiz, Vice Chancellor, University of Dhaka. Mr. Vadivel Krishnomoorthy, High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to Bangladesh was present as special guest. Prof. M S Ilyas Dhami, Vice Chancellor, SUB and AR Mejabuddin Ahmed also spoke on the occasion.

Abrarul Haque

“Rajshahi University Economist Society” (RUES) has begun its journey with the slogan “We Build Our Career”. Most of the students of the Economics Deparment of RU are members of RUES. The orientation ceremony was held on 28th February, 2008 at Momtaj Uddin kala bhaban. Professor Tariq Saiful Islam was the chair at the ceremony. Anwar Hossain, student of MSS (economics) presented a paper titled “Causes of Inflation and Price Hike of the Commodities in Bangladesh”.

The main goals of RUES are to organize seminars, symposiums and debate competitions on various economic topics.

Department of Economics (4rth Year)

Seminar on Digestive Cancer held at NSU

Benyamin Mashroor

The Department of Pharmacy, North South University organized a Health Talk on "Digestive Cancer: Things to look out for” in collaboration with Parkway Health on Sunday, February 24 at the NSU campus.

The programme was chaired by NSU Pro-Vice Chancellor Professor Dr. S A M Khairul Bashar who was present as chief guest at the seminar. Dr. Tan Chi Chiu, Consultant Gastroenterologist from Gleneagles Hospital, Singapore presented his speech on digestive cancer. His speech was followed by a question-answer session where he answered questions from the audience.

The programme was held in a very cordial atmosphere. Ms. Jessica Sim, the country manager of Parkway Health and Mr. Zahid Hassan Khan, the director of Parkway Health were present during the programme. Among others who attended the Health Talk were faculty members and students of the Department of Pharmacy & Department of Life Sciences of NSU.

1st Batch, Department of Pharmacy
North South University

Astron day of Cinema

Md. Imran Khan

The 4th anniversary of the Department of Film and Media, Stamford University of Bangladesh, was marked by organizing a two-day long celebration beginning from 19th February, 2008 at the Siddeswari campus. This program was inaugurated by Mr. Zamil Osman, Secretary in charge, Ministry of Information, Govt. of Bangladesh.

Professor Dr. K. Moudood Elahi, Pro-vice Chancellor of Stamford University Bangladesh presided over the seminar while, Zamil Osman, Secretary of Information Ministry; A N M Badrul Amin, managing director of BFDC were present as the chief guest and the special guest respectively. The welcome address was given by Matin Rahman, Chief Coordinator of Film and Media department, film personality Syed Shamsul Huq and Manjara Hasen Murad.

In the second session of first day's program, BFDC and Stamford Film and Media department jointly organized a seminar titled “Modern Technology in Film and Film in Future”. A keynote paper of the seminar was presented by the renowned film personality Mosiuddin Saker. Mr. Amzad Hossain, film director; Begum Nargis Aktar and Abu Syed participated in the discussion. In the end of the first day celebration, a movie made by the students of Film and Media department was screened.

The second day of celebration started off with a colorful rally. Faridur Reza Shagor, managing director of “Channel i” cut a cake in the presence of Mohammad Jafar Iqbal, Depute-register, media personalities, faculties and students of the Film and Media department. This was followed by a discussion on the film maker and the founder chairman of this department M. A. Samad.

Begum Kamunnahar, vice-chairman of Bangladesh Film Censor Board, Aly Zaker, drama personality; Keramot Mowla, Ajad Rahman, Anupam Hayat , film director Shiblee Sadek, S A Huq Alik, Raju Alim, department heads and teachers from other departments of the university, government officers and members of BFDC were present in this two-day long program.

New VC of Khulna University

Mohammad Mohibul Islam

Prof. Dr. Saifuddin Shah joined as the 7th Vice-chancelor of Khulna University. He is the teacher of Fisheries & Marine Resource Discipline (FMRT) of Khulna University and is the first VC from among the KU teachers. Mr. Shah complete his B.sc in Fisheries from BAU, Mymensingh then he completed his Ph.d from Wales University in England. He also completed his post doctorate from Japan & USA. In different times he was the head of the discipline, provost of the KAJA hall, dean of the Life Science School. His home district is Dinajpur.

Agrotechnology Discipline
3rd year 1 st term, Khulna University
mohibulbabu@yahoo.com

Two-day long debate competition ends in Khagrachhari

The Daily Star Correspondent

The two-day long second inter school debate competition ended on February 29 at District Shilpakala Academy with the slogan “Prakritir Ujanay Khuji Juktir Sopan” Local organization Global Village Rangamati organized the competition while Khagrachhari Hill District Council (KHDC) was associated with them.

Khagrachhari Natun Kuri Cantonment High School clinched the title of Championship while Cantonment Public School & College become Runner up. The three best debaters were Tanbir Hasan from Natun Kuri Cantonment High School, Rohit Kumar Tripura from Khagrachhari Adarsha High School and Zahedul Alam from Cantonment Public School and College. They would get the chance to tour India under the financial help of KHDC.

Khagrachhari Hill District Council (KHDC) Chairman Monindra Lal Tripura was present as chief guest while the Executive Director of Global Village Rangamati Fazle Elahi presided over the closing and prize giving ceremony.

Additional Superintendent of police Osman Gani, Khagrachhari Hill District Council (KHDC) Animesh Dewan Nandith, Khagrachhari Government High School Headmistress Srila Talukder, ATN Bangla District Correspondent Abu Daud, President of CU Debating Society M.A Samad Hemal and Global Village Programme Officer Hefajatul Bari Sobuj also spoke on the occasion.

GDLN Videoconference discussion held at BRAC University

A two-hour, multi-country videoconference discussion on "Impact of Macro-level Shocks on South Asia Poverty Reduction Efforts" was held at BRAC University on February 26, 2008. Participants from six South Asian countries were connected through a program organized in collaboration with GDLN (Global Development Learning Network) and the World Bank. The countries were Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

The session began at 6:00pm with a presentation from the World Bank HQ in Washington by Dr. Shantayanan Devarajan, Chief Economist, South Asia Region of the World Bank. South Asia is the largest net importer of oil and food relative to its GDP. Between 2002 and 2007, global crude prices have increased by 185%, metal and mineral prices by 236%, and agricultural prices by 68%. The major two inputs to agriculture energy and fertilizer costs have increased in recent years, leading to a rise in food price. Besides, certain countries are using a substantial portion of their food crops, like wheat, maize and sugar for producing bio-fuels. On top of that, hostile climatic conditions and export bans by several countries have attributed to a global shortage of food. The bad news for SA countries is that global demand for bio-fuel will increase in coming years, and so food prices are expected to remain high and there is no sign of relief in the foreseeable future.

The presentation was followed by a cross-country discussion, moderated by Mr. Ejaz Ghani Economic Adviser, South Asia PREM, World Bank, while the whole session was coordinated by Mr. Juan Blazquez, GDLN South Asia. The discussants were trying to address the fundamental questions (i) how have the external price shocks (in oil and food) affected domestic prices in your country?, (ii) what have been the effects on inflation, the fiscal deficit, and balance of payments?, and (iii) how can governments cushion the impact of these shocks on the poor?

Discussant from the participating countries volleyed questions to the presenter and sometimes came up with answers themselves. In order to cushion the impact of price shock on the poor, participants suggested that SA Governments should take both short term and long term measures. This include providing smart subsidies on essentials, especially oil, and building up buffer stocks as short term measures, while pooling up resources among SA countries for using them to expand supply in the long run was also considered.

Among others, Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed, Pro VC, BRAC University, representatives from World Bank Dhaka Office, Planning Commission, Financial Express, SABINCO, and teacher and students of the University of Development Alternative (UODA) took part in the discussion.

Books for Bangladesh drive at
MASSACHUSETTS

Sudipta Sarkar

"Books for Bangladesh”, a student-led initiative by Bangladeshi youths studying in universities in Massachusetts, formally launched itself on March 1, 2008 at an event to commemorate Ekushey, organized by the greater Boston area NRB organization - Bangladesh Association of New England (BANE). Books for Bangladesh began its journey by placing wreaths at the Shaheed Minar erected by the organizers of the event to pay respect to the martyrs of the language movement of 1952. H.E. Humayun Kabir, Ambassador of the People's Republic of Bangladesh to the United States, graced the occasion as Chief Guest. Other special guests included Iqbal Quadir, Founder of Grameen Phone and Senior Lecturer at MIT, and eminent scholar Dr. Sajed Kamal. On behalf of Books for Bangladesh, Ejaj Ahmad, graduate student at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, spoke on the occasion.

In his address, Ejaj Ahmad outlined the background and vision of Books of Bangladesh and how the initiative aspired to contribute to the higher education standard in Bangladesh by sending leading academic books and journals to universities in Bangladesh, especially to those located outside Dhaka as they are the ones with serious funding constraints. 'Boston is home to some of the best universities in the world and our goal is to collect leading journals and textbooks from different libraries and dorms at the end of every semester and send them to Bangladesh for use by students there. The recipient universities will not be charged for these books.' Ejaj further said, 'there is no alternative to education and we can only ensure a prosperous Bangladesh by building a more enlightened, responsible and compassionate young generation and this can only be achieved by better quality of education.' So far, Books for Bangladesh has collected over 5000 books and journals and Ejaj called upon the local community in New England and Bangladesh Embassy to come forward with donations to help ship the books to Bangladesh. The initiative has partnered with Star Campus of the Daily Star Newspaper in Bangladesh who will help distribute the books to several universities, mostly located outside Dhaka. After delivering his speech, Ejaj handed over a memorandum to H.E. Humayun Kabir which outlined several ways in which a multi-stakeholder approach could be facilitated by the Bangladesh government to help replicate this initiative in other cities in the US.

Several other leading professionals and academicians have been involved with Books for Bangladesh since its inception. Most notable among them are: Professor Dr. M. Zafar Iqbal of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Professor Dr. M. Kaykobad of BUET, Professor Rafique-um-Munir Chowdhury of Dhaka University, and M. Jabed, Senior Assistant Secretary of Bangladesh Government's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Currently, seven dedicated students are engaged in collecting books and journals for the Books for Bangladesh drive and they are: Ali Shafqat Akanda of Tufts University, Aminul Huq and Nabeela Alam of Brandeis University, Atanu Ray of Babson College, Ejaj Ahmad of Harvard University and SM Easeen I Zaman and Sudipto Sarkar of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Mr. M Bellal and Mr. Atiq Rahman, newly elected executive committee members of BANE, and Mr. Baduizzaman Nasim and Mr. Aunko Abdullah, are actively involved in Books for Bangladesh as community patrons in New England. Some of the earlier shipments of books to Bangladesh have been sponsored by the former BANE committee led by Abu Kamal Azad Mahdi Imam.

(For more information on Books for Bangladesh, please visit www.booksforbangladesh.org or contact the executive committee at boston@booksforbangladesh.org.)

JUDO's
First Inter - Hall Debate

Jahangirnagar University Debate Organization (JUDO) held its first inter-hall debate championship, from 18th to 20th of February 2008 at Prastabito Jahir Raihan Milanayatan, Jahangirnagar University. The ceremony was inaugurated by the Treasurer of The Jahangirnagar University. The opening ceremony was followed by the first round debate. The participants were Bangabandhu Hall vs Begum Khaleda Zia Hall, Fazilatunnessa Hall vs Al- Biruni Hall, Mir Mosharraf Hall vs Mowlana Vashani Hall, and Pritilata Hall vs Nawab Faizunnessa Hall. The teams that made it to the semi-finals were Begum Khaleda Zia Hall, Al-Biruni Hall, Mir Mosharraf Hall and Pritilata Hall. It was Begum Khaleda Zia Hall against Al- Biruni Hall and Mir Mosharraf Hall against Pritilata Hall in the semi-finals on the 19th February. The grand final took place on the 20th between Mir Mosharraf Hall and Begum Khaleda Zia Hall. After a tough competition Mir Mosharraf Hall took the winning glory making Khaleda Zia Hall the runners-up of the championship.

There was also a public speaking (Barowari) championship, the first place was taken by Irteza Ahmed from Al-Biruni Hall, the second place by Shihabul Islam from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Hall and last but not the least Adnan Hossain from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Hall won the third position.

The chief guest of the prize giving ceremony was the Vice Chancellor of the Jahangirnagar University, while A.T.M. Atiquer Rahman, Manager of the Student Welfare and Counseling Center, was the special guest. Jahngirnagar Debating Organization was the moderator of the debate. The program was sponsored by Bombay Sweets.

The program was not only the coming together of all the debaters of Jahangirnagar University but it was also a celebration of the spirit of debate.

Copyright (R) thedailystar.net 2008