OntoreBangladesh

University Grants Commission (UGC) established in 1973 under the University Grants Commission of Bangladesh Order 1973. Attached to the Ministry of Education, UGC is headed by a chairman assisted by five full-time members and nine part-time members. Three of the part-time members are vice-chancellors of different universities nominated by the government, three are university professors and deans nominated by the representing universities and the rest three include the secretary, ministry of education, a member of the Planning Commission and a representative of the ministry of finance of the rank of a secretary. The regular workforce in the Commission comprise the chairman, the full-time members and 114 other staff, of which 33 are class-I officers, 37 are class-III employees and 34 are class-IV employees. The major duties and responsibilities of the Commission are to ascertain the demand for university level education, formulate specific policies for the development of higher education, determine financial demand of the universities, allocate funds from the government to the universities, evaluate development activities of the departments, institutes and other affiliated organisations of the universities and advise the government on establishment of new university and expansion of the existing universities.

National University established in 1992 under the National University Act (Act No. 37 of 1992) to relieve the existing universities from the unwieldy roll strength of the students seeking higher education, and at the same time, to ameliorate the conditions prevailing in the affiliated colleges and to improve the quality of teaching. Qudrat-I-Khuda Education Commission (1974) recommended the establishment of four affiliating universities in the then four administrative divisions of the country. The university grants commission (UGC) constituted a ten-member committee headed by Professor Kazi Abdul Latif to prepare a report on the establishment of an affiliating university. After reviewing the proposal of the committee, the UGC recommended (5 November 1985) to the government for the establishment of the National University.

University of Dhaka established in 1921 under the Dacca University Act 1920 of the Indian Legislative Council. It opened its doors to academic activities on 1 July 1921 with 3 faculties, 12 teaching departments, 60 teachers, 847 students and 3 residential halls. Today, there are 10 faculties, 48 departments, 9 institutes, 26 research centres, 1,345 teachers, about 25,000 students and 17 residential halls. Two-thirds of the present faculty possess degrees from universities of Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. Many of them achieved international renown for their scholarship. Many also have the experience of teaching in well-known institutions of higher learning abroad.

Turag River  drawn into the Jamuna system by the invasion of the Lohajang river (in Tangail district). The Turag remains active, although it has only a small flow in the dry season. Jamuna sediments have invaded its valley almost as far south as Tongi Khal perhaps since the Assam earthquake in 1950. It joins the buriganga near Mirpur (Dhaka) and is tidal in its lower reaches. It is navigable by country boats throughout the year. The whole of the Turag valley south of the Mymensingh Trunk Road is notable for boro rice cultivation. [Sifatul Quader Chowdhury]

Buriganga River  a tide-influenced river passing through west and south of Dhaka City. There is a traditional story behind naming it. In ancient times one course of the ganges used to reach the bay of bengal through dhaleshwari. This course gradually shifted and ultimately lost its link with the main channel of the Ganges and was renamed as the Buriganga. The water levels during high and low tides in this river astonished the Mughals.

Dhaka (Geology) the capital city of Bangladesh, was founded about 400 years ago by the side of the river buriganga. The earliest available map shows Dhaka extending over an area of about 1.5 sq km near the junction of the Dholai Khal and Buriganga river. Large-scale urbanisation was initiated by the British Raj in 1904 when Dhaka was made the capital of East Bengal, a newly created province of British India. Dhaka gained city status in 1947 when it was made the capital of East Pakistan and by that time stretched over an area of about 40 sq km. The importance of Dhaka increased exponentially after 1971, when it became the capital of independent Bangladesh. As a result the city expanded phenomenally and according to the census of 1991 the area and population of Dhaka Megacity or Dhaka Statistical Metropolitan Area (DSMA) were 1,600 sq km and 6.83 million respectively. According to the same census the area under the dhaka city corporation (DCC) was 360 sq km, with a population of 3.39 million. The present population of DSMA is about 9.0 million (2001).

Dhaka City Corporation With the birth of Pakistan in 1947, Dhaka became the capital of the new province of East Bengal. This elevation in the status of the city did not immediately alter the status of its local government, which was a municipality. The municipal government of Dhaka established in 1864 was suitable for the type of urban centre which then it was – a small divisional headquarters. It then covered an area comprising roughly some 8 square miles with a population of some 52,000.