Celebration of 60 Years of Engg. Edu. in Bangladesh

BUET Central Auditorium-Venue of opening ceremony for celebration of 60 yearsof Engg education

former and present VC's of BUET

Crest presented to Dr Wahiduddin Ahmed (C) by the VC. Dr Matin Patwari (on left)

once the front view of Ahsanullah Engg. College- now rear side

Fuller road, gateway to College

sketch of front view of Institution (in the 50's)

Entry lobby during 'College' period- Principal's chamber on the left

Fuller hostel-erstwhile hostel for the West Pakistani and foreign student (now Rover Scout's bldg)

South hostel- now renamed Nazrul Hall on Bakshibazar road

Old Main Hostel-turned Administrative Office of BUET

Entry of Old Main hostel

VC's office- a pond, CI room, Gym and the 'chapra' canteen stood here in the 50's.

Play field- east of Old Main hostel

CE faculty bldg

EEE faculty bldg

Arch faculty bldg

Shaheed Minar, BUET

Titumir hall-hostels connected by elevated gangway

BUET campus map- College time bldgs. shown in brown colour

The celebration program for the 60 Years of Engineering Education of Bangladesh kicked off with great enthusiasm on 28 July 2007 at BUET campus, Dhaka. Although history of BUET can be traced back to 1876 when the Dhaka Survey School was established, the premier engineering degree institution Ahsanullah Engineering College came into being in 1947 as a Faculty of Engineering under the University of Dhaka, and became the East Pakistan University of Engg and Tech (EPUET) in 1962. Thereafter, it was converted to the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) in 1971 and reached the mark of 60 years of engineering degree education in the country in 2007.

The opening ceremony in the morning got together some of the eminent academicians and alumni from the days of Ahsanullah Engineering College, the EPUET and the BUET. The program thoughtfully organized to continue upto 8 December 2007 will surely promote better contact and understanding between the old and the new starting from Ahsanullah Engineering College, leading to greater effort and cooperation toward achieving further excellence in the engineering education and practice.

The inaugural session was presided by the present VC Prof. AMM Safiullah. The distinguished guests and speakers included former VC’s Prof. Dr. Wahiduddin Ahmed, Prof. Dr. A.M.Patwari, Prof. M.H.Khan, Prof. Iqbal Mahmud, Prof. Dr.Nuruddin Ahmed and Prof. Dr. Alee Murtaza and the Convener of the Organizing Committee Prof. Mazharul Huq.

In these 60 years this institution has developed 20 times in terms of enrollment and has presently 5 Faculties offering Undergraduate and Post-graduate Degrees through 26 Departments and 6 Research Centres with 545 Faculty Members to 8480 Under-graduate and Post-graduate Students. Presently BUET is producing around 3000 Graduate Engineers, 300 Architects and 100 Planners annually. The Library section has 1,32,200 books and 218 journals.

In their notable speeches the present and former VCs and Professors stressed upon the need for more funds for research and cutting-edge facilities and also urged the alumni to try and help in this regard. In the evening session BUET Alumni was formally launched by Prof Dr. Wahiuddin Ahmed. Alumni president Prof Dr. Jamilur Reza Choudhury VC Brac University gave a detailed account of the Alumni Association.

Some of the Alumni of the old days strolling through the BUET campus noted the marked contrast from the days of the Ahsanullah Engineering College. The campus has vastly grown in size and number of impressive buildings. But, the famous play ground so vibrant and full of life of those days present a barren look with overgrown grass. One could recall the days of annual college sports held on this ground in the ‘50s and hotly contested games, annual sports events and gymnastics. The students of the Eden Girl’s College at Bakshibazar would take special leave for the afternoon to watch the annual sports functions of the Engineering College and line up early at the entrance to the sports arena marked for them, partly to receive their special packets of sweets and partly to cheer the feat. One evening in these times, perhaps 1957, there was a jovial incident near the South Hostel (now Nazrul Hall) of the Engineering College facing the Eden College Hostel across the road where the Alia Madrassa now stands. After the evening meals a cry was heard emanating from the Eden College Hostel with girls shouting at the top of voice “thief” and “intruder”. Their compound with a pond and bushes around remained mostly dark. Hearing the cry most students of the South Hostel rushed out and forced their entry into the girls’ hostel in order to apprehend the intruder and help out, but the girls got more alarmed and started shouting with renewed vigor that “instead of one intruder there are now hundred intruders”. Hearing this the boys turned around and beat a hasty retreat to their own hostel while the medical students of the adjacent hostel watched from balcony with amusement. The next day when the South Hostel Superintendent Prof Kazem Ali heard of the incident in college he said, “the boys did nothing wrong, and after all they would need to get married one day”.

Let us not forget what the Institution has and is giving us in our aspiration to be in the profession of engineering, architecture and planning today, and vow to return the favour.