Five decades of glory and gloom

Jahangirnagar University has turned fifty-one. The university started its journey back in 1971 as Jahangirnagar Muslim University. Fast-forward to today, it has come to be one of the most prominent cultural hubs of the country.

This residential university at Savar now has 36 departments, six faculties and four institutes, accommodating 15,000 students and about 500 academics devoted to teaching and research, said officials. 

The university has also become a symbol of resistance against injustice, with its students leading several movements, the most prominent and well-documented one being the anti-rape movement of 1999.

However, even after five decades, students still find themselves dealing with accommodation crises, subpar quality of food, lack of study materials, laboratories and research facilities, they said.

"It is unfortunate that JU still does not offer subjects like EEE, ME or other applied sciences. Students should be allowed to keep up with the fast-paced world," a student of the statistics department told this correspondent, wishing anonymity.

Jahangirnagar University also has no Emeritus professor, while no honorary doctorate degree has been given to anyone in 51 years, said ABM Azizur Rahman, deputy registrar of higher education and scholarship.

Asked, Prof Dr Laek Sazzad Andallah, president of the university's teachers' association and a syndicate member, said, "We had many scholars who could have been offered an emeritus professorship. I don't know why that didn't happen."

The university has held only five convocations in 51 years, confirmed the university's public relations officer.

In 1997, JU held its first convocation, after 26 years of its establishment. Every year, approximately Tk 2 crore is allocated for convocation, said sources.

Moreover, no "Dean's Award" has been introduced. Toppers of the campus expressed their dissatisfaction over the matter.

In 2019, there was a discussion regarding introducing the award at a syndicate meeting, which later got cancelled amid the pandemic, informed a faculty dean.

"Every year, a fixed budget is allocated for the award, which goes unutilised," the dean told The Daily Star.

Contacted, JU pro-Vice Chancellor  (academic) Prof Md Nurul Alam, said, "We are thinking of inaugurating an engineering faculty. The chancellor will decide about the convocation."

This correspondent could not contact Vice Chancellor Prof Farzana Islam despite repeated attempts.

Despite all this, the 51st anniversary brings hope among the students, current and former, that the university will rise again from the ashes and retain its full glory.