Setting out on an arduous yet momentous journey with only three faculties, 12 departments, three dormitories, 60 teachers and 877 students on a 600-acre area of land in 1921, Dhaka University (DU) has in the past one hundred years blossomed into a giant educational and political powerhouse in all aspects. Notably also, DU was founded by the British, the imperial ogre whowere conventionally blamed for all ills in the Indian subcontinent ever since the East India Company became virtually the masters of the Indian subcontinent. But the later 100 years of British rule proved that the British were also a much civilized and modernising influence. Through the establishment of the DU, the British facilitated the progress of modern education in this part of the subcontinent that also concommitantly led to national awakening and a rallying point for the freedom movement against alien rule and bondage.\Recently, DU observed officially and ceremonially its 100th founding anniversary . DU now has the pride of housing 13 faculties, 83 departments, 12 institutes, 20 residential halls, 3 hostels, and more than 56 research centres. The number of current students and teachers has grown to about 37,018 and 1,992 respectively, according to the website of the university.
At the beginning, one of the distinctive features of DU was its non-affiliating, residential character similar to that of England’s Oxford University.
Such a unique state of residential facility as well as academic excellence paved the way to Dhaka University being labelled as the “Oxford of the East”.However, since 1947 the university has had an affiliating mandate in place of an exclusive residential trait.
It is noteworthy that Lord Lytton, the then governor of Bengal and chancellor of the then University of Dacca, in his speech at the first convocation on February 22, 1923 had said: “….this University is Dacca’s greatest possession, and will do more than anything else to increase and spread the fame of Dacca beyond the limits of Bengal or even of India itself”.His prophecy proved to be true as within a few years the university went on to become the intellectual centre of Bengal, playing a pioneering role in the social, political and cultural life of the Bengalis.Since its inception, the DU had distinguished scholars as faculty members who enriched the global pool of knowledge by making notable contributions.
The university served as a central premise for freethinking and democratic practices, playing a decisive role in the formation of Bangladeshi national identity.It acted as the foundation of awakening in every moment of national need and eventually became the centre of the movement that led to the creation of the country in 1971.In fact, a single university has rarely had such an immense contribution to making a nation and spreading knowledge in society as DU did.
But as the country’s highest echelon of academic excellence celebrated its birth centenary, educationists soundedsceptical that the university’s fame is now limited to the region. They say that DU’s contribution on a global scale is declining.
For example, Nazrul Research Centre within DU has had no research or publication for several years.The centre had been running without a fixed office, employees and research assistants for long. It got an allocation of Tk 1.5 lakh to Tk 2 lakh. The amount was spent on seminars.Educationists said the lack of research and quality publications kept the university at the bottom of international rankings.The DU’s publications are in a sorry state. The university had published only four books in 2019, one each in 2018 and 2017, according to the catalogue of DU Publications Bureau.”Research is a common and vital parameter of all international rankings. If it is published in a quality journal, citation plays a big role in rankings,” said ABM Faroque, who teaches at the DU’s pharmaceutical technology department.
