Engineering education The history of engineering education in Bangladesh dates back to 1876 when the Dhaka Survey School was founded at Nalgola in a rented building to train surveyors for the government of Bengal in British India. In order to facilitate and promote education of the Muslims, Nawab Khwaja Ahsanullah donated 1.12 lac Rupees in 1905 for the upgrading, development and expansion of this institution. In 1906 the school building was constructed at government initiative near the present Shahidullah Hall of dhaka university. Even a few years ago a tall chimney that existed at this location used to bear testimony to this institution. The school was renamed as the Ahsanullah Engineering School in 1908 in recognition of the Nawab's donation. In 1920 the school was shifted to the site where the bangladesh university of engineering and technology (BUET) is located. Initially the school was affiliated with dhaka college and later it was brought under the Director of Public Instruction.
After World War II the government took up large-scale plans for industrial development in Bengal, but there was acute shortage of skilled manpower. A government appointed committee made recommendations for establishing an Engineering College at Dhaka with an enrolment capacity of 120 to offer a 4-year bachelor's degree programme in mechanical, electrical, chemical and agricultural engineering. They also recommended that the Ahsanullah Engineering School should be shifted to the site of the Plasssey Barracks and for admission of 480 students in the 3-year diploma courses in civil, mechanical and electrical engineering.
In August 1947 the Ahsanullah Engineering School was upgraded to the Ahsanullah Engineering College (now BUET) as a Faculty of Engineering under the University of Dhaka, offering four-year bachelor's courses in civil, electrical, and mechanical engineering with a view to meeting the increasing demand for engineers in the country and to expanding the facilities for the advancement of engineering education. Hakim Ali was appointed the first Principal of the college. In 1948 the Government of East Pakistan gave recognition to the Engineering College and approved a degree programme in civil, mechanical, electrical, chemical, agricultural and textile engineering and a diploma programme in civil, mechanical and electrical engineering. Later, metallurgical engineering was started instead of textile and agricultural engineering. In 1951 TH Mathewman was appointed principal and was succeeded in 1954 by ma rashid. In 1956 a new course-curricula and the semester system were introduced at the Ahsanullah Engineering College. In 1957 the enrolment capacity for the bachelor's degree was increased from 120 to 240 and the diploma course was withdrawn from 1958.
In order to create facilities for postgraduate studies and research, the Ahsanullah Engineering College was upgraded and the East Pakistan University of Engineering and Technology established on 1st June 1962. MA Rashid was appointed the first Vice Chancellor. After the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, it was renamed as the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. At present the university has sixteen teaching departments under five faculties. All departments, with the exception of the Department of Humanities, offer degree programmes; however, some of them offer postgraduate degrees only.
To increase opportunities for engineering education Engineering Colleges were established in other regions of the country. Two engineering colleges (now called Institutes of Technology), one at Rajshahi and the other at Chittagong, were started in the early sixties offering a 4-year bachelor's degree programme in civil, mechanical and electrical engineering. In the Rajshahi Engineering College the first batch of students entered in 1964 and graduated in 1968. In the mid-seventies the Khulna Engineering College was established. Another Engineering College was started at Gazipur to offer a three-and-a-half-year degree programme only for students who have completed 3-year diploma from Polytechnic Institutes. Engineering Colleges were affiliated to different universities. In the early eighties all four Engineering Colleges were converted to degree awarding institutions and named as the Bangladesh Institute of Technology, Rajshahi; Bangladesh Institute of Technology, Chittagong; Bangladesh Institute of Technology, Khulna; and Bangladesh Institute of Technology, Dhaka. The Council of BITs (Bangladesh Institute of Technology) located in Dhaka coordinates the activities of the four BITs.
Recently master's degree programmes have been started in each of the four BITs. The growth of engineering education in Bangladesh has been slow. In the 1990s private universities started to grow in Bangladesh and a few of these universities are offering some engineering degrees. Following are the list of engineering colleges in
Bangladesh:
Bangladesh Institute of Technology, Dhaka, Gazipur - 1700, Bangladesh Ph : 88-02-838144, Email :
bitdhaka@bangla.net
Institute of Management & Information Technology
(iMiT), GPO Box 842, Chittagong 4000, Bangladesh Ph : (880 31)626744, Fax : (880-31) 285 1340 www.imit.20m.com
Military Institute of Science & Technology, Mirpur Cantonment, Dhaka-1216, Bangladesh Ph : (880-2) 8019950, Ext: 263, Fax : (880-2) 9011311, Email : info@mist-bd.org www.mist-bd.org
Daffodil Institute of Information Technology , House # 07, Road # 14 (New), 29 (Old) Dhanmondi, Dhaka-1209 Ph : 88-02-9124773, 9117205 Fax : 88-02-8116103 Email : information@diit.info www.diit.info
Islamic Institute of Technology (IIT), G.P.O Box No . 3003 , Ramna Dhaka , Bangladesh Ph : 88- 02- 9800962 PABX 9800964-9 Fax : 88-02-9800970, Email : eee@iit.bangla.net http://www.members.tripod.com/
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