"The Dylan Debate" at ULAB

The Department of English & Humanities of ULAB organised The Dylan Debate over the motion "Bob Dylan does not deserve the Nobel Prize in Literature." The professors Syed Manzoorul Islam, Firdous Azim and Hasan Al Zayed teamed up defending the motion against Professors Kaiser Haq, Fakrul Alam and the renowned musician Maqsoodul Huq.  

The chief guest at the programme was the Swedish Ambassador Johan Frisell, who also presided over the debate. The session was followed by a musical performance by Prof. Imran Rahman, VC (Acting) of ULAB, Maqsoodul Haque, Kaiser Kabir, Shahbaz Khan Pilu, Ihsanul Haque, Bappi Rahman, Reazur Rahman, and Foad Nasser Babu. 

The panelists engaged in an animated and passionate argument over why Bob Dylan's work should or should not be considered as literature. That also brought in the basic question, "what is literature?" While defenders of the motion dubbed Dylan as a "wonderful performer with heart, but lacking the soul," the contenders drew attention to the history of the Nobel Prize which often made "audacious moves" to promote writers and thinkers of novel tradition.  The adjudicator applauded the panelists on both sides, and announced the contenders of the debate as winners, which, was decided by the audience as well. The results in the pre-polls remained unchanged when counted in the post-polls. 

This programme was also attended by Juditha Ohlmacher, member of the BOT of ULAB, the Prof. Shamsad Murtoza, Head, Department of English, ULAB, and distinguished guests from various walks of life. All the panelists, musicians and the chief guest were presented with crests. 

UNIC and DIU jointly observe "International  Human Rights  Day" 

Daffodil International University (DIU) and United Nations Information Center (UNIC) Dhaka jointly observed International Human Rights Day through an elaborate programme titled "Commemoration of Human Rights Day". The observance included seminar, poetry recitation and drama. 

Kazi Reazul Hoque, Chairman of National Human Rights Commission of Bangladesh was the chief guest and Md. Sabur Khan, Chairman, BOT, Daffodil Family was present as the special guest. Prof. Dr. Yousuf M Islam, VC, DIU presided over the programme. 

M. Moniruzzaman, Officer-In-Charge of UNIC Dhaka, read out the UN Secretary General's message on the day. Conducted by Rashedul Islam, a student of Journalism and Mass Communication Department, the seminar was also addressed by Syed Mizanur Rahman, Director (Student Affairs). Poets Muhammad Samad, Ruby Rahman and Shihab Sarker were present and recited poetry. A human rights drama was performed by DIU theatre group "All Star Daffodils". 

IUB holds scientific seminar  on particle physics

A very timely seminar on cutting-edge particle physics and the ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) experiment was implemented by the Department of Computer Science and Engineering of the School of Engineering and Computer Science, IUB. The event took place on December 8, 2016, at the permanent campus of Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) in Bashundhara, Dhaka. The programme was led by Prof. Federico Antinori, a research scientist with the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) in Padova, who is currently working on the ALICE experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, Geneva, Switzerland.

ALICE is one of the largest experiments in the world devoted to the physics of sub-atomic particles, hosted by the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) at the site of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's most powerful particle collider and the largest experimental facility ever built. 

Prof. Antinori spoke about the current state of affairs in particle physics and of the recent discoveries of various sub-atomic particles. He also focused on machine learning, and its use in ALICE with respect to data collection, organisation and analysis. 

IUB students and faculty members from different departments and disciplines attended the seminar that ended with a lively question-answer session. In the end, vote of thanks was given by Dr. Arshad Momen, Professor, Department of Theoretical Physics of the University of Dhaka.

Seminar on radicalism at NSU

A research based seminar titled "Battling Radicalism through Information" was held at North South University on the December 6, 2016. It was organised by the citizen empowerment movement Shopner Desh in collaboration with the university's Communications Club, and the Human Resource Club. 

The seminar was arranged to enlighten students against radicalism and to thwart terrorism in the name of religion. It began by playing a thematic video against the recruitment process of these radical organisations, followed by expert speeches on the significance of women empowerment in battling radicalism, the role of West as our development and commercial partner, and in promoting democracy, along with the discussions on the incompatibility of religion and terrorism. Speeches were delivered by Prof. Emdadul Haque, Head of Political Science Department of NSU, Assistant Professor Abdullah M. Taher, who is also a communication and motivational trainer, and by Syeda Sadia Mehjabin, media personality and host at Jamuna TV. Among invited observers were representative of UNDP, Siddhartha Goswami, US Embassy Public Affairs Officer Kamrul Hasan, and many more. Bobby Hajjaj, convener of Shopner Desh delivered the ending speech as the chief guest of the seminar.

IAU elects AIUB VC as member

Dr. Carmen Z. Lamagna, VC of American International University Bangladesh (AIUB) has been elected as a member of the International Association of Universities (IAU) Administrative Board for 2016-2020.

The IAU, founded in 1950, is the UNESCO-based worldwide association of higher education institutions. It brings together institutions and organisations from some 120 countries for reflection and action on common concerns and collaborates with various international, regional and national bodies active in higher education. Its services are available on priority basis to Members but also to organisations, institutions and authorities concerned with higher education, as well as to individual policy and decision-makers, specialists, administrators, teachers, researchers and students.

Inter-University Programming Contest at IUBAT 

Department of the Computer Science and Engineering of the International University of Business Agriculture and Technology (IUBAT) organised Inter-University Programming Contest was held on December 1, 2016 on the occasion of the Silver Jubilee Celebration of IUBAT. Forty five public and private universities took part in the competition.

Prof. Dr. M. Kaykobad, Dean, Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Bangladesh University Engineering and Technology (BUET) was the chief guest. Prof. Mahmuda Khanam, VC (Acting), IUBAT, presided over the ceremony and Prof. Dr. Md. Abdul Mottalib, Head, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Islamic University of Technology (IUT), Prof.  Dr. Nasim Akther, Dean, Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (DUET) were the special guest and guest of honour respectively. Prof. Dr. Utpal Kanti Das delivered the welcome address and informed the profile of the Inter University Programming Contest.

After the contest, the prize awarding ceremony of the Inter-University Programming Contest was arranged and the champion declared. All participating team received certificates.  Jahangirnagar University (JU) became champions of the event.