Professor Fuad Hassan Mallick has joined as Pro-Vice Chancellor of BRAC University on 6 March 2013 for next 4 years. Honorable Chancellor has approved his appointment as Pro-VC.

Prior to his joining as Pro-VC, Dr. Mallick has been working as Professor and Head of the Department of Architecture of BRAC University. He was also Director of Post-Graduate Program in Disaster Management of BRAC University. Dr. Mallick has been working here since the inception of the university. A devoted academic, Dr. Mallick has been teaching and researching architecture for the last 25 years. He has done pioneering research on thermal comfort in Bangladesh. A number of his research publications have been published in national and international journals. 

High level Mayanmar Delegation visited BRAC University

A high level Myanmar delegation visited BRAC University on 10 March 2013. The team was visiting Bangladesh on invitation of BRAC to experience BRAC's activities on poverty alleviation and social development. The delegation was led by His Excellency Mr. U Than Tun, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Cooperatives of Myanmar. Vice Chancellor Professor Ainun Nishat welcomed the delegation in the university. Heads and senior faculty members from various Departments and Institutes were present with him in welcoming the guests. Prof. Nishat gave a brief presentation about the university and shared many experience through its various activities. A lively discussion held afterwards about possible collaboration between BRAC University and Myanmar Universities. The delegation was accompanied by Vice Chairperson of BRAC, Dr. Ahmed Mushtaque Raza Chowdhury and Senior Director, BRAC International, Mr. Faruque Ahmed.

Get Together of BRAC University Faculty Members with Sir Abed

Sir Fazle Hasan Abed KCMG had met with academic members of BRAC University at BRAC centre Inn on Thursday 14 March 2013. About 280 academic members of BRAC University were present in the get together. The event was started with a film show on BRAC. Then Sir Abed shared his views on BRAC activities and his vision on the future of BRAC University. He gave suggestions to the teachers of BRACU to develop the image of BRAC University in all parts of the World. He focused on emphasizing creative learning rather than traditional memorization. His speech was followed by an entertaining question-answer session. Sir Abed was keen to listen to the views of the junior faculty members of BRAC University and answered a number of questions in the session. Prof. Ainun Nishat, Vice Chancellor moderated the session and thanked everyone present for their lively participation.

Vice Chancellor participated in the Meeting of the Enforcement Branch of the Compliance Committee of UNFCCC in Bonn, Germany

Professor Ainun Nishat, Vice Chancellor of BRAC University participated in the 22nd meeting of the Enforcement Branch of the Compliance Committee of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Bonn, Germany. He was in Germany from March 20 to March 24 2013. Prof. Nishat was there as a member representing Non-Annex 1 Parties. The Enforcement Branch is responsible for determining whether a Party included in Annex 1 is not in compliance with its quantified emission limitation or reduction commitment under Kyoto Protocol.

Frugal Innovation Forum: Scaling Simple Solutions 

On March 30-31, 2013, BRAC's Social Innovation Lab hosted South Asian innovators, large and small, public and private, for a weekend of sharing, learning, problem-solving, and connecting in an international event entitled "Frugal Innovation Forum: Scaling Simple Solutions" to highlight the ways that organizations can come up with creative solutions to social problems without large up-front investments, thereby enabling massive scaling.

The Forum took a multifaceted perspective on poverty and focused on three cross-cutting areas: a. developing human capital, b. mobilizing communities and c. fostering civic engagement. Vice Chancellor Prof. Ainun Nishat chaired a session on "fostering civic engagement", where discussions were held on ways and means of effective strategies in engaging local community or convinces the people to engage in solving social problems. The event was supported by the Rockefeller Foundation.

BBS Updates

SEMINAR ON "CAREER PROSPECTS IN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT"

BRAC Business School hosted a seminar on Career Prospects in Supply Chain Management which took place on 30th March 2013 in the Auditorium of the BRAC University. The seminar was supported by Bangladesh Supply Chain Council (BSCC) and organized by BRAC University Entrepreneurship Development Forum. The seminar started with the welcome speech delivered by Mr. Rezaur Razzak, Director, BRAC Business School followed by the opening speech by the speaker Mr. M Nayeem Hossain, President of BSCC. He talked about the growing importance of Supply Chain Management in the changing world of today. He also talked about Supply Chain Management in context of Bangladesh. After that, Mr. S M Khaled, Supply Chain Director of British American Tobacco, Bangladesh delivered his speech in which he informed the audience what Supply Chain Management actually is, the possible distribution channel on the Supply Chain based on the industry. He then talked about Supply Chain Management in relation to British American Tobacco Bangladesh. Followed was Mr. Raquibul Alam, Supply Chain Director, Coats Bangladesh. He further described about the processes involved in Supply Chain Management and just like Mr. Khaled, he talked about supply chain management in relation to his organization. Later, Mr. Aminur Rahman, Supply Chain Director of Unilever BD delivered his speech where he mentioned that even though Unilever emphasizes on Supply Chain Management, they do no not have a separate department for it. However, the supply chain process is also vital to Unilever Bangladesh. After the honorable speakers concluded their speeches, the Guest of honor, Mr. Vivek Sood ,CEO of Grameen Phone was greeted and invited to share his outstanding speech. Later, the seminar was carried further by a Question/Answer session where the audiences present in the seminar and he mentioned the growing importance of Supply Chain Management in Bangladesh as it is in India. He also talked about how he implemented his previous working experiences in GrameenPhone. The audience then asked their desired questions which were answered by the honorable speakers. Questions asked included "What type of education is required to get a job in Supply Chain Department in Unilever?" where Mr. Rahman replied that Unilever Bangladesh does not have a separate department such as Supply Chain. Further questions involved "Many people assume that Supply Chain and Procurement is the same thing. Is that true?" In reply, it was told that it is a misconception that floats among many minds but this phenomenon is gradually decreasing. The seminar was concluded with a thanking note by Professor Golam Samdani Fakir, honorable Pro-Vice Chancellor and director of TLC, BRAC University.

Green Delta Insurance Company Ltd. PresentsBusiness Week 2013

BRAC University Business Club (BIZ BEE) came up with yet another unique event known as "GreenDelta Insurance Company Ltd. Presents Business Week 2013". It was a three day long program (10th to 13th March 2013) consisting of a job fair, an Ad-Making workshop and the launch of the 4th volume of "VISION", the premier magazine of BIZ BEE. ATN News was the electronic media partner. Radio partner and beverage partner included Radio Foorti and IFAD Multi Products Ltd. respectively.

The first two sessions on the list was a 2 days job fair. It was held on 10 March from 10am to 5pm at BRAC University auditorium. The Managing Director & CEO of Green Delta Insurance Company Ltd, Nasir A. Choudhury inaugurated the program. The Chief Guest of this job fair was the Vice Chancellor of BRAC University, Professor Ainun Nishat. Other guests included Farzana Choudhury (Additional Managing Director andCFO, Green Delta Insurance Company Ltd.), Rezaur Razzak, Assistant Professor and Director of BRAC Business School, Golam Mustafa (Additional Managing Director, Green Delta Insurance Company Ltd.), Farid A. Choudhury (Senior Additional Managing Director,Green Delta Insurance Company Ltd.), and the Advisor &Co-Advisor of BIZ BEE, G. M. ShafayetUllah and Asphia Habib. Top companies i.e. Green Delta Insurance Company Ltd, Square Group Ltd, Novartis Bangladesh Ltd, GlaxoSmith Kline Ltd, Banglalink (The Orascom Telecom Bangladesh Ltd.), Cemex Cement Ltd, Crown Cement, GPH Ispat, BRAC EPL Investment Bank, bKash, Eminent Securities Ltd, Sanofi Bangladesh Ltd, Communication System Ltd, CSL (PABX), Enroute Consultancy Firm, ICE Media Ltd, Premier Bank Ltd, EMC and Teach For Bangladesh participated in the event. Students were given the chance to drop their CV's in their desired companies and know more about the job market. After the end of the fair on day two, the participant companies were rewarded with crests and gifts for their contribution. Also, prizes were handed out to the hard working volunteers and organizers.

An Ad-Making workshop was featured in the third day which was held on 13th March, 2013. The Guest of the session was The Director of Half Stop Down and the renowned film and Ad-maker Amitabh Reza. The program began with an introduction from the director and Assistant Professor of BRAC Business School Rezaur Razzak and the Advisor, G.M. Shafayet Ullah. Then, Mr. Amitabh Reza started the discussion on the main topic. He began by showing some examples of his work. Secondly, he explained the types of advertisements and camera shots involved. He also discussed other factors involved in ad making. A lively question answer session was also held in between talks. At the end, Mr. AmitabhReza was given flower bouquets and some souvenirs for his generous participation, from Santu Kumar Ghosh (Assistant Professor and BBA Coordinator, BRAC Business School).

Finally, the week concluded with the fourth session which was also held on 13thMarch 2013. It was the launching ceremony of the 4th volume of the exclusive business magazine "VISION" and the Chief Guest was Ms.Farzana Chowdhury, Additional Managing Director and CFO of Green Delta Insurance Company Ltd. The Special Guest was Professor Ainun Nishat, Vice Chancellor of BRAC University. Other honorable guests were Ambassador NasimFerdous, (Executive Director,BEDWAL), Fuad Hassan Mollick, Pro-Vice Chancellor of BRAC University, Rezaur Razzak, Director of BRAC Business School, Professor Firdous Azim (Chairperson, English & Humanities Department, BRAC University).After a few words from the Chief Guest, the editor of "VISION", Musharrat Tarannum Baishakhi, expressed her gratitude to all the people involved in making this magazine. At last, the magazine was unfastened by all the guests present. The program came to a close with the speech of the President of BIZ BEE, Eshat Kabir and the concluding speech of the Advisor of the BIZ BEE, G. M. ShafayetUllah. The Advisor referred to this magazine as a manifestation of the month long toils of the BIZ BEE team and congratulated the students' involved in making this magazine and the event a grand success.

Throughout the program, all guest congratulated the club for their efforts in making such amazing programs. At the end of it all, every member of BIZ BEE was tired but satisfied. One of the longest programs of BRAC University came to a close with a promise to organize many similar events such as this in the near future. 

Seminar on Masters and PhD opportunity in The University of York

On March 31, 2013, representatives from the University of York conducted a short seminar in the BRAC Business School. Amongst them were present Muhammad Moshfique Uddin, Lecturer in Accounting and Finance, and Philip Linsley, Senior Lecturer in Accounting and Finance.

The university was founded in the year 1963, with the mission of creating equal opportunities for all. It is one of the top ranked universities in the UK (8th in the world), because of its excellence in the fields of research and teaching. The university is small in size, in terms of students, fifteen-thousand in total, and it maintains that low level of student rate, because of a higher student-teacher interaction level. This definitely adds value to the students' learning at the university.

The campus is just two-hours away from London, making it easy to commute to. With on-campus accommodation, sports facilities, lakes, gardens, classrooms and teaching halls, the University of York provides almost every resource a student may need. 

The city of York is becoming increasingly popular amongst tourists. It has the features of any modern cities, along with the famous historical buildings and streets of the UK. York is termed as the fifth safest city in the UK.
The York Management School is the specialized business school of the university, and was only established two years ago. The faculty boasts state-of-the-art facilities, all designed for providing hundred percent support in research. The Masters Programs offered here are all one-year in duration, with the terms starting from October and ending in September of the next year. Entry requirements in this school are as follows: a Bachelors degree with a minimum CGPA of 3.24 out of 4.00, and an IELTS score of 6.5 or above. The tuition per year (as of 2013) is pound 13,580, and living costs (as of 2013) are on average pound 9,000.

There are a few scholarships programs offered, where students have to write a motivation letter, which should focus on three main points: what makes him/her a good student, why he/she wants to study that subject, and his or her plan of action during and after the study period.

Basically, the York Management School is ideal for international students who want excellence in learning and in research. The application deadline for the 2013-14 academic year ends on April 5, 2013. More details can be found on their website at www.york.ac.uk/management 

Organizing Pre-Departure Orientation Session for USA/Bangladesh Media Exchange Program

CED has arranged a Pre-Departure Orientation Program for the Bangladeshi media professionals who are going to visit the USA. The Bangladeshi Media Professionals Exchange Program (BMP) is a U.S. Department of State supported exchange program which is being managed by the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Oklahoma, USA, and the Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (CED), BRAC University.

For the 1st phase of this exchange program, 9 young Bangladeshi media professionals (consisting of 4 male and 5 female) have been selected who are from different electronic and print media backgrounds to visit U. S. for 5 weeks from April 6 to May 12,2013. A contingent of U.S. media professionals will also make a reciprocating tour to Bangladesh from May 24 to June 05, 2013.

BRAU Executive MBA's Recent Residential Week

BRAC University Executive MBA Program completed its latest Residential Week held between March 22-23, 2013 with much fanfare, amusement and enthusiasm at BRAC CDM, Savar. About 140 Executive MBA students participated in the program. The capstone feature of the Residential Week is the lecture series based on contemporary and latest issues of the industry and the academia delivered by eminent speakers. On the first day of the session a round of talks was delivered by noted speakers namely Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed (Managing Editor, the Daily Star), Mr. Abu Daud (Managing Director, Enroute Bangladesh) and Mr. Iftekarul Islam (Former Chief Executive Officer, Sanofi Aventis, Asia) to the participating Executive MBA students. This was followed by another round of talks on the second day delivered by Mr. Fayaz Taher (a Private Sector Expert) Mr. Samad Miraly (Executive Director, Olympic Industries Ltd.) and Ms. Sakeba Zeba (Senior Lecturer, Economics Department, North South University). It is to be noted that the Executive MBA Residential Week is designed for exposing the students to a higher seat of practical, experience based learning, giving them an opportunity to meet reputed industry and academic experts and also providing them a platform for social networking. The talks were then followed by some additional recreational events such as songs, comedy and for the ‘first time' holding of a mock football match between the two world-class teams Argentina and Brazil under floodlights in the evening at Savar campus.

Paper Publication

"The Negative backwash effect in testing of reading of the intermediate learners in Bangladesh" a paper by Ashik Sarwar, Lecturer of BIL, was published in March in the BPDM Journal of Research, Issue 1, Volume 1.

2013 TESOL International Convention and English Language Expo

Roxana Ahmed Chowdhury, Lecturer of BIL, attended the 2013 TESOL International Convention and English Language Expo held from March 20-23, in Dallas, Texas at the Dallas Convention Hall.

The BIL Workshop Series: The Third Workshop

BIL hosted the third workshop of the BIL Workshop Series on 9 March 2013, this time conducted by Elizabeth Platt, a US Visiting Scholar who was been sharing her specializations in second language learning and curriculum development in developing countries, along with Kaspia Sultana, Asst. Professor of AIUB School of Arts & Social Science on the topic "Working Backwards through Green Packaging." The participants eagerly took part in the activities and shared their views and concerns throughout the workshop.

BDI Updates

Follow up to the Dhaka Resolution 

"Follow up to the Dhaka Resolution" is a UN Women funded research on the impact on access to justice among the beneficiaries of Promotion of Legal and Social Empowerment of Women intervention (PLSEW, Phase II) undertaken by German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) between 2008-2011. This intervention was selected at the Seventh South Asian Regional Ministerial Conference Commemorating Beijing held in 2010 as an exemplary collaborative initiative between development agencies, program implementers and policymakers with the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs taking a leading role. This initiative also involved Ministry of Home, Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, the Bangladesh Police and the Department of Women's Affairs. As per the Dhaka Resolution made at the conference, this research will assess the impact of the PLSEW to contribute to strengthening local governance and government services to respond effectively to reduce violence against women. 

BRAC Development Institute (BDI) is conducting qualitative research in four intervention areas (Bogora, Netrokona, Satkhira and Madaripur) to carry out a legal review of laws relevant to gender equality, rights and gender violence and formulate a position paper for MOWCA to contribute to the aim of strengthening legislative commitments and judicial orders to further gender equality. BDI will organize a discussion on the research findings with dispensers of justice to identify measures to be taken to enable women affected by violence to claim justice and receive redress. The field work for the qualitative research in Netrokona and Madaripur has already been completed.

CSO Updates

The CSO has been working feverishly on a number of strategic issues that have been taken on as priorities. In this brief report I would like to highlight the most important of these.

"English Language at BRAC University" 

English language competence and fluency provides an important basis for student and staff progression at BRAC University.

CSO Advisor, Mr. Kumar Murshid (in conjunction with a number of senior colleagues including Lady Sarwat Abed / Professor Fuad H Mallick/ The Registrar/ Prof. Firdous Azim / Prof. Md. Golam Samdani Fakir and Prof. Syed M Hashmi) has been working on a 'whole university' English language policy to promote and develop the use of English across BRAC University, encompassing all departments, institutes and administrative sectors.

A presentation was made to the CAA on 4th April which incorporates practical recommendations for promoting English across BRACU and includes -

• "English in the class room campaign"
• Intensive conversation courses for all staff
• Mandatory use of English across all clubs
• Establishing departmental English language Champions and focal points
  

PSDP: A MAKE OVER!

The PSDP course run by the CSO is undergoing a complete makeover. This is an opportunity for departments to work with the CSO to develop a new and more effective Professional Skills Development Program (PSDP) which will prepare our students well for the world of work. 

The CSO Advisor, Mr. Kumar Murshid through this bulletin extends an invitation to faculty members and staff representing different departments to join our "PSDP" working group which will oversee the development of the new PSDP which in turn seeks to be responsive to departmental concerns about 'professional development' of students. Anyone who is critical of the PSDP currently and has ideas about where improvements are required is requested to make contact with the CSO Office and to engage on this issue. Making our students and graduates professionally ready for the real world is a major challenge that needs to involve the whole university.
If you would like to be in the "PSDP Working Group" please drop us a line at csotraining@bracu.ac.bd alternatively email us any suggestions for improvement to the PSDP course.

Meeting with ProthomAloJobs.com

In order to enhance career opportunities for BRAC University students in all fields, including that of journalism and print media, CSO has partnered with Prothom Alo at a meeting held on March 24, 2013 in the VC Conference Room to plan for a two-day Career Fair. This is the first large scale Career Fair to be organized by BRAC University, outside the university premises. The tentative two days for the fair is scheduled for September 2013 and the proposed location being Bangladesh International Conference Center (BICC). 

The primary objective of the Career Fair is to strengthen the career prospects of the students of BRAC University so that they get some priority over other university students in respect of employment opportunities. Finally, it was agreed upon that the first day of the Career Fair will be restricted to the BRAC University students, and the next day will be open for graduates and other students from other universities. 

Discussions are also ongoing with Prothom Alo Trust about partnering on creating awareness around key social areas issues such as- i) child protection ii) drug abuse iii) acid violence against women. Plans are underway to hold a roundtable on child protection and a meeting with students on drug abuse 

It is envisaged that the Career Fair will be promoted as an exemplary event and will conclude with a gala dinner bringing together leaders from public and private sectors, captains of industry and change-makers with the leadership of BRAC University. 

Professional Etiquette and Grooming with Mutual Trust Bank

On March 14, 2013, the Career Service Office of Brac University organized a "Professional Etiquette and Grooming" session with Mutual Trust Bank Limited at the Indoor Auditorium of the University. 

Ms. Asma Banu, Senior Assistant Director, Career Services Office, opened the session with her welcome speech followed by a presentation by the key speaker, Gazi Yar Mohammed, SVP Head of Retail Business, Mutual Trust Bank. In his speech, he mentioned the importance of an accurate CV along with an appropriate cover letter; also the significance of proper posture, gesture, dressing up rules and other such similar topics on etiquette and how to groom and prepare oneself for the professional world.

Internship Placement- Spring'13

Internship gives the opportunity to "test drive" a career, chances to network, establish relationships with organizations, provides an introduction to business culture and etiquette. It supports accumulating new skills and gaining a "real world" perspective on an occupation or profession.

BRAC University Career Services Office (CSO) has successfully completed the placement of internship for the spring'13 semester for all the registered students. 94 students from BBA, 7 students from EEE, 5 students from ESS, 3 students from CSE 4 from ENH and 42 students from MBA were registered for internship in the semester Spring'13. These students were placed in various prominent organizations. For instance:

• Aarong & Ayesha Abed Foundation
• ACI Limited
• Airtel Bangladesh Limited
• Banglalink
• Bank Asia Limited
• bKash Limited
• BRAC Bank Limited
• British American Tobacco Bangladesh
• Citibank, N.A.
• City Brokerage Limited
• Concord Group of Companies
• Dhaka Bank Limited
• DHL Global Forwarding (Bangladesh) Limited
• Dutch Bangla Bank Limited
• EXIM Bank Limited
• First Security Islami Bank Limited
• GlaxoSmithKline Bangladesh Ltd.
• Grameen Bank
• Grameenphone Limited
• IFIC Bank Limited
• Impress Telefilm Limited
• Independent Television
• Kazi and Kazi Tea Estate Limited
• M.I. Cement Factory Ltd.
• Mercantile Bank Limited
• Mutual Trust Bank Limited
• National Bank Limited
• Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited (Citycell)
• Prime Bank Limited
• Robi Axiata Limited
• Ruposhi Bangla
• Shahjalal Islami Bank Limited
• Social Islami Bank Limited
• South Asian Network on Economic Modeling
• Standard Chartered Bank
• Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd.
• The City Bank Limited
• The Premier Bank Limited
• The Westin Dhaka
• Unilever Bangladesh Limited
• UniMed & UniHealth Mfg. Ltd.
• United Commercial Bank Limited

This semester a bulk of students were placed in the Banking and Telecom sectors. Others were placed in FMCG, Pharmaceuticals, Media, Manufacturing, Hospitality and Health sectors. The following chart shows the percentage of the industry wise internship placement of Spring'13.

Data shows that maximum placement is done in banking sector. Some major industries such as the RMG sector and Development sector are absent in the placement status. Currently, CSO is trying to enhance the internship placement in RMG & Development sectors for the upcoming semesters.

"Establishing relations with the Alumni Association"

With the aim of keeping all previous graduates connected to the university, CSO and Alumni Association of BRAC University have collaborated together to track all graduate students. Through a series of meetings, currently ongoing, we plan to set up a common agenda and agree upon appropriate combined actions. 

In the first meeting, held on March 20, 2013; Mr. Kumar Murshid, Consultant, CSO, Ms. Asma Banu, Assistant Director, CSO, Kazi Shahnoor Kabir, Executive, CSO, Zinat Fatema, Intern, CSO met with six members of the Alumni Association to discuss the student tracking system, website development and student progression. One such initiative that was agreed upon is to introduce a specific portal (aa.bracu.org) on both the Alumni Association and CSO websites. Through this, the graduate students can sign up, inform others about themselves, be in touch with each other as well as look out for news and updates from BRAC University. Similarly, there is also a Facebook page alongside the website through which CSO and Alumni Association intends to seek information about graduates. Apart from that, the Face book page will also publicize this renewed partnership between CSO and Alumni association, as well as publish all activities that they work on together. The CSO will publish all recent activities that the alliance takes on as a team. While the Alumni Association deals with updating the information, the CSO will create a comprehensive database for the alumni students. Currently, CSO has taken the responsibility to maintain the database for the 8th convocation and further work is underway to develop an updated database of all BRAC University graduates from the 1st convocation onwards. CSO soon expects to have a comprehensive database of all alumni students of the university. 

At the second meeting of the CSO and Alumni Association on 30th March 2013 the relationship was further consolidated. The Alumni Association enthusiastically received news from the Registrar that space has been allocated for the Alumni Association office at Siddique Tower. The Alumni Association is working on improving their website. Furthermore, they posted a message on their Facebook page requesting all graduates to supply their recent updates for tracking purposes. To make the website a more useful tool, and more interactive too a website development group is being set up to look at developing the Alumni Association website, the CSO website and make suggestions about improving the BRACU website. Two former BRAC University students of the CSE department and current members of the Alumni Association volunteered to help and expressed their interest to be a part of the BRAC University website implementation meetings. In addition, the Alumni Association will include the CSO bulletin in their webpage as a sign of commitment to the collaborative style of work being done by the CSO and Alumni Association in the greater interest of BRAC University and particularly its diverse student body.

ENH Updates

ENH Lecture Series 

On 4th March 2013 a guest lecture entitled "Gendered Encounters in the Australian Desert: Aboriginal Women's Stories about South Asian Camel Drivers, 1860-1930" was presented by Dr. Samia Khatun . The lecture focused on an Arabunna language story about an encounter between camel herders and Aboriginal women in the South Australian desert to explore the conceptions of space/place that underpinned Aboriginal tales of encounter with Muslim camel-men.

Professor Paul Greenough from the University of IOWA delivered a lecture entitled, "Rethinking the 1943-44 Bengal Famine after 70 years" at ENH on 11th March 2013.

Students' Performances at ENH

The Spring 2013 students of the course ENG114: Introduction to English
Drama staged an abridged version of Shakespeare's play, The Merchant of Venice on 28th March 2013 at ENH. Their course teacher Ms. Rukhsana Rahim Chowdhury, Sr. Lecturer, ENH was the coordinator of the event. The performance was a part of their marked assignments of the course.

ESS Updates 

International Conference attended by Faculty 

Dr. Sajjad Zohir attended an international conference on "The Challenge of Developing Countries from the Bottom-up", McGill University, Montreal, March 21-23,2013.The conference aimed at exploring the interface between development policies focused at the community level and the achievement of sustainable national development based on innovative public-private sector partnerships that improve the quality of life for national populations as a whole.

He was the key Panelist in a session on "Balancing the State and the Market: The Roles of Public Policy and the Private Sector". In addition, he had contributed in a concluding meeting of a select group of invitees from the researchers in South America and Africa, UN-DESA, University of Toronto, the World Bank, IFPRI, ISID and McGill University.

Forum attended by Faculty

Dr. Wahid Abdallah attended the two-day long Frugal Innovation Forum organized by BRAC Social Innovation Lab held in Brac-CDM, Savar on March 30 - 31, 2013. The Forum hosted a large number of participants from leading Social Innovators of South Asia.

Faculty Publication

Kamrul Hasan's research paper entitled "AIDS-related stigma in Thailand" has been published in Millennial Asia, a peer-reviewed journal of the Association of Asia Scholars (AAS). The paper is based on his research as an Affiliated Researcher at Chiang Mai University, Thailand. The full citation of the paper is as follows: Hasan, M.K. (2012). AIDS-related stigma in Thailand. Millennial Asia, 3(2), 187-206.

Faculty Left for Higher Studies

Kamrul Hasan, Senior Lecturer at BRAC University has left for Sydney to pursue a PhD in Health, Sexuality and Culture at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia. He received an International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (IPRS) from UNSW.

Guest Lecturer at ESS

Professor Mustafizur Rahman, Executive Director of CPD, delivered a lecture on "WTO and the Multilateral Trade Negotiations Concerns, Interests and Strategies from the Bangladesh Perspective" on the 22nd of March. The lecture was organized by Dr. Farzana Munshi for her course on International trade.

IGS Updates

IGS Research Team attended Faculty Get Together with Sir Fazle Hasan Abed

IGS research team attended a meeting with Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, KCMG, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of BRAC University on 14th March, 2013 at BRAC Centre, Mohakhali. The meeting was organised by the BRAC University. Sir Fazle Hasan Abed delivered a speech and attended a question and answer session with all the faculty members of BRAC University participated at the get together. The meeting was facilitated by Mr. Asif Saleh, Senior Director of Strategy, Communications and Capacity Division, BRAC and Professor Dr. Ainun Nishat, Vice Chancellor of the University. 

Naimur Rahman, Chief Operating Officer of ANSA-SAR, Kazi Nurmohammad Hossainul Haque, Senior Research Associate, Mohammad Sirajul Islam, Research Associate, Md. Harun-Or-Rashid, Research Associate, and Farhana Razzaque, Research Associate, were included in the IGS team. 

Study Tour of MAGD Batch IV Students to South Korea and Malaysia

Students of Master of Arts in Governance and Development Programme (MAGD), Batch IV, visited Korean Development Institute (KDI) School of Public Policy and Management in Seoul, Korea from 4-9 March, 2013. During the visit, the students participated in "Bangladesh Capacity Building Workshop on Change Management" at KDI School Public Policy and Management. The purpose of this workshop was to give an exposure to the participants on the Korean governance and development experience and knowledge as a development model for Bangladesh. 

After Korea, the students visited Malaysia from 9-16 March, 2013 where they attended capacity building workshops on "Public Management" for one week in the Institute of Professional Development of Open University Malaysia (IPD-OUM). Students were taught different issues on good governance, peace and conflict, protocol and economic development in this workshop. The workshop was concluded with certificate awarding ceremony. 

IGS Attended IDRC TTI Regional Meeting in Colombo

During 12-15 March 2013, Dr. Rizwan Khair, Director and Dr. Nasir Uddin Ahmed, Research Coordinator of IGS attended the IDRC Think Tank Initiative Regional Meeting at Colombo, Sri Lanka. This Regional Meeting was attended by representatives from 16 South Asian Think Tank Initiative (TTI) grantees of different counties in the region, IDRC officials and various other donors. The regional meeting was organised to strengthen and share knowledge management practices and networking related to ensuring a successful policy research organisation, amongst the South Asian cohort of IDRC. As part of the meeting, Dr. Khair attended a follow-up workshop for the TTI grantees on 16-17 March, 2013, organised by IDRC. The workshop was on Resource Mobilization. 

IGS Researchers Attended Democracy International's Conference on Public Opinion Research

IGS Research Associate Md. Harun-Or-Rashid and Sultan Mohammed Zakaria attended a National Research Conference on March 27, 2013, at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel, Dhaka titled "Public Opinion Research as Key Pillar of Democracy in Bangladesh" organised by Democracy International. The programme was jointly sponsored by USAID and UKAID, Dhaka. Honourable British High Commissioner to Bangladesh, H. E. Mr. Robert Winnington Gibson CMG made the opening remarks at the conference. Prominent speakers from USA, Indonesia and Bangladesh spoke at the occasion while a number of participants from political party, academia, research institutions, NGO and CSO of Bangladesh attended the conference.

IGS Researcher Participated in Training on Access to Information and Environmental Sustainability

IGS Researcher S. M. Gubair Bin Arafat participated in a two-day training on Access to Information and Environmental Sustainability on 16-17th March, 2013 at Baton Rouge hotel, Dhaka. The training programme was organised by Article 19 and it was inaugurated by its Bangladesh and South Asia Director, Tahmina Rahman. The main purpose of the training was to build the capacity of environmental activists, civil society organisations and journalists working at the community level on the use of Right to Information Act for environmental protection. 

IGS Researchers Participated in Workshop on Cultivating Critical Thinking and Experiential Learning in Teaching Process

Teaching and Learning Centre (TLC), BRAC University, organised a two-day long workshop titled Cultivating Critical Thinking and Experiential Learning in Teaching Process on 21 March 2013, at the BRAC University Auditorium. The workshop was offered to the nominated faculty members from each departments, schools, and Institutes of BRAC University. Dr. Mark Nowacki, SEO and Co-Founder of LogicMills and Assistant Professor of Singapore Management University and Professor Md. Golam Samdani Fakir, Director, TLC, BRAC University facilitated the workshop. Kazi Nurmohammad Hossainul Haque, Senior Research Associate and Mohammad Sirajul Islam, Research Associate represented IGS Research Team in the workshop.

IGS Director's Visit to Seoul and Kuala Lumpur

Dr. Rizwan Khair, Director of IGS, Director of IGS joined the MAGD students and participated in the MAGD study tour of Korea from 7-9 March 2013. He attended the closing ceremony of the Capacity Building Workshop organised by KDI School of Public Policy and Management on 9th March. During the visit, Dr. Khair held official meetings with the Dean and Associate Dean of KDI School for strengthening the existing collaboration between IGS and KDI on offering training on "Negotiation and Conflict Management" and other academic programmes.

Dr. Rizwan Khair also visited Malaysia from 9-10 March, 2013 with MAGD participants and had meeting with the Director of the Institute of Professional Development of Open University Malaysia (IPD-OUM) in Kuala Lumpur. The meeting focused on strengthening the academic relations between IGS and IPD-OUM and jointly offering courses on Capacity Development Programmes.

Training Programme on SPSS for IGS Research Team

From 21 March 2013, IGS has introduced a two-week training programme on SPSS, a quantitative package used for statistical analysis, for IGS Research Team at IGS Conference room. The training programme was conducted by Professor Mahbub Latif and Professor Wasimul Bari, Institute of Statistical Research and Training, University of Dhaka. SPSS is an integrated collection of quantitative analysis software, particularly popular with social science researchers. 

CIPS Examinations held 

The March session examination of Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) was held at IGS from 11-13 March, 2013. A total of 28 participants from different organisations appeared at the examination. At the same time, classes of CIPS private sector for Level-4, 5 and 6 are going on as before.

IGS Organised Meeting on Alternative Path to Good Governance

A Roundtable discussion on Alternative Path to Good Governance research was organised by IGS on 24th March, 2013 at IGS conference room. The discussion focused on the feedback, remarks on the research paper on Alternative Path to Good Governance prepared by IGS for JICA. This meeting was attended by representatives from JICA, Institutional Advisor of IGS Barrister Manzoor Hasan, Director of IGS Dr. Rizwan Khair and IGS Research Team. 

ANSA-SAR Participated in a Brain Storming Session

Md. Musthafizur Rahman Khan, Project Officer, ANSA SAR, participated in a brain storming session on Development of Urban Governance for Health on 25th March, 2013 at James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Mohakhali. The session was arranged to discuss about a proposed short course on Urban Governance for Health which would be conducted by ICDDRB, ANSA-SAR and BDI. The discussion included issues about the audience, length and date of the course, course fee, academic approach, objectives, and potential resources etc. 

ANSA Officials Participation in Training

Nuzhat Jabin, Programme Manager, ANSA SAR, participated in Training on Local Governance at The Hague Academy of Local Governance in The Netherlands from 11th-25th March, 2013. From 23rd-28th March, 2013, Aneesa Rahman, Project Assistant, ANSA SAR participated in a Short Course on Evaluation of Development Programmes conducted by James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University and UNICEF, Bangladesh.

Fifth Certificate Course on Environmental Management and Governance starts 

The Fifth Certificate Course on Environmental Management and Governance of IGS started on 24 March 2013. The three-month long course started with 11 participants from private and civil society organisations. 

Publication of Policy Notes

On March, 2013, IGS published four policy notes under Public Procurement Reform Project II. These policy notes have been jointly published by IGS and the Ministry of Planning, Government of Bangladesh. The first policy note was published on "Improving Transparency in Public Procurement in Bangladesh: Interplay between PPA and RTI Act" written by Mohammad Sirajul Islam, Research Associate. The second policy note was titled "Role of Mass Media in Facilitating Citizen Participation in Bangladesh Public Procurement" written by Farhana Razzaque, Research Associate. The third policy note was written by Sultan Mohammed Zakaria, Research Associate and Nazmul Arifeen, Research Assistant, titled "Issues and Challenges in Public Procurement Bidding: Bangladesh's Experience". The last policy note on "Increasing Transparency and Accountability in Municipal Public Procurement through Citizen Engagement" was written by Kazi Nurmohammad Hossainul Haque, Senior Research Associate. 

Publications

1. Improving Transparency in Public Procurement in Bangladesh: Interplay between PPA and RTI Act, Dhaka: Institute of Governance Studies.
2. Role of Mass Media in Facilitating Citizen Participation in Bangladesh Public Procurement, Dhaka: Institute of Governance Studies.
3. Issues and Challenges in Public Procurement Bidding: Bangladesh's Experience, Dhaka: Institute of Governance Studies.
4. Increasing Transparency and Accountability in Municipal Public Procurement through Citizen Engagement, Dhaka: Institute of Governance Studies.

RS Updates

Session on Johari Window

On 23 March, 2013 the Ethics and Culture Course of BRAC University Residential Campus arranged a session on "Johari Window", a tool for reaching out to the people.

Johari Window is a process for strengthening or developing personality. It focuses on the importance and dynamics of receiving and giving feedback, interconnecting with the personal development part of Ethics and Culture course. The session was planned and designed by Professor Md. Golam Samdani Fakir.

Meet the Employers

"Meet the Employers" was held at the Savar residential campus on Saturday, 30 March, 2013. This semester the guest speakers were employer representatives from HR Kites (a leading HR agency in the country), and two BRACU alumni, including the CEO of G&R Technologies, which is one of the leading tech startups of the country.

The representatives shared their ideas about the current job market with the students and gave necessary suggestions to them. 

The session was divided in three main parts where in the first part our distinguished guests talked to the students which was followed by a mock job interview and a question-answer session. The session was well appreciated by the teachers, the students, the admin staff as well as the guests.

SECS Updates

CSE Department Faculty and Student attend UGC HEQEP WNC at BUET

With the nation trying to go wireless and mobile, wireless networks are the way to go. Wireless communication is invaluable for last mile internet access as well as wireless connectivity inside the buildings. On Saturday, March 16, a daylong workshop on Wireless Networks and Communications (WNC) 2013 was held at BUET. Annajiat Alim Rasel, Lecturer III, CSE, SECS and Amit Kumar Dey, Senior Student, CSE attended the day long workshop. 

While welcoming all the participants to this exciting workshop, Dr A S M Latiful Hoque introduced three distinguished experts in the field for invited talk sessions. The program chair, Dr. M Mahfuzul Islam emphasized on the challenges and demands of wireless networks. HEQEP subproject manager, Dr. Md Saidur Rahman pointed out that development of qualified academicians is as important as improvement of infrastructural facilities. Organizing chair, Dr Mahmuda Naznin highlighted that the participants can make the workshop a success by utilizing valuable resources from this workshop in their professional, research, and educational activities. Dr. M Kaykobad expressed that the country needs to take up national level projects to be able to build more teachers and researchers, as there are very few key researchers and experts in each area in Bangladesh.

Invited speaker, Dr. Arshad M Chowdhury discussed the next generation convergence of optical and wireless access networks, and reaching several Gbps data transfer speed in wireless networks. A R Azimul Hoque, National ICT consultant, SPO Project, Bangladesh Parliament discussed cost effectiveness, technologies, and examples of wireless access network deployments in different countries. Dr. Md Mostofa Akbar discussed multidimensional multiple-choice knapsack problem applied to solve problems in wireless communication systems. There were tutorial sessions on network simulators, NS3 and PeerSim conducted by Md Shaifur Rahman and Md Nashid Shahriar respectively.

Professors shared their experience of students being involved with research right from their very first year in the university. Participants were highly encouraged to build such research culture at their respective institutions. The chief guest, Professor Md Shamsul Alam from MIST emphasized that for a developing country like ours, research is way towards a sustainable future. The workshop participants observed silence for one-minute in remembrance of Professor Emeritus of Chittagong University Dr. Jamal Nazrul Islam.

The workshop concluded with two best poster paper awards to Dr. A B M Alim Al Islam and his students. Speakers thanked the University grants Commission for taking up Higher Education Quality Enhancement Program (HEQEP). This was the third event under HEQEP. First two were on Artificial Intelligence and on Graphic Drawing and Graph Algorithms (GDGA). Researchers were requested to take preparation for the next one, Workshop on Advanced Algorithms which is coming up in June 2013. Further details are available at http://buet.ac.bd/cse/HEQEP/workshop

Student Affairs Updates

Stairs of Dreams: GBM of BRAC University Computer Club 

BUCC, the ubiquitous titan which has the potential to nourish the intelligent digital era of BRAC university, has organized its General Body Meeting with the unanimous participation of hundred new interested members who are willing to hold the reputation of this club in future. 

To make the new member familiar with the structure of the bucc executive body, it was introduced to them and interested people were called upon to join different departments in accordance with their choices. As usual, the co-advisor of the club Mr. Md. Shamsul Kaonain (Lecturer, SECS) was there with his inspiring speech and amicable smile. The most fascinating fact was the form, which was allotted to everyone, which covered many features regarding bucc, which would be helpful for us to sort out the members having interest in various fields as well as to integrate bucc with the opinions of the upcoming members. We also decided to publish an IT magazine of our own. All the members were found determined to make this optimistic step come to reality.

Without the help of Mahbub-Uz-Zaman, S. M. Rakibul Hasan, Md. Asif Ibtehaz, Arafat Habib, Bareed Muhammad Noor, Bishwajit Paul, Maruful Haque, Subroto Nag Pinku, Javed H. Ahmed, Md. Junayed Hasan, Nahid Kamal, Md. Sadaf Noor, Mohammad Rezaur Rahman, Md. Shazzad Hosen, Syeda Noor Jaha Azim, Saadat Arifin, Tajul Islam, Abu Sufian Rony, Chowdhury Farsad Aurangazeb, Israt Jahan Shanchary, Mohammad Oliur Rahman, Farah Nazifa, Md.Moniruzzaman Monir could never be as much successful as it was.

In fine, the GBM was successful with the roar future members whom we expect not only to be passionate but also to be diligent enough to take our club in the stairs of dreams.

BUCC: UX Saturday with Wahid

On March 10th, BUCC members participated in a workshop on User Experience in short, which is known as UX. The session was conducted by Mr. Wahid Bin Ahsan. UX Saturday with Wahid is a personal initiative of Mr. Wahid to inspire young learners about the importance of User Experience (UX). He believes in free flow of knowledge, and he wishes to continue the free sessions in educational institutions - with the intention to inspire young learners for becoming self-motivated User Experience Experts. He has started his session by asking audience what is UX. After jotting down the points from the audience, altogether the audience has come to the definition of User Experience. Mr. Ahsan put emphasis then discussed about different aspect of renowned company like facebook, twitter, and Google. We are more prone to use facebook than other social network, he has mentioned that it is because of the UX. Facebook and twitter both has registration form in the front page, which makes it more user friendly, but on the other hand he has criticized Gmail as it has no registration form in the front page. He has marked it as drawback of Gmail UX. He has shared a warning that it is not a good idea to be overconfident when you are doing a business as an example he said that for a long period of time facebook was not compatible with IE because facebook has gained a certain confidence that for using facebook people will leave IE to another browser. Mr. Wahid has mentioned that it is overconfidence and this is not a proper practice of User Experience. At the end of the day user feeds everyone so we do not have any legitimate cause to dishearten them. At the end of the discussion, Mr. Wahid started a web-designing project and he gave it as a task to everyone.

BUCC Workshop on Dotmatrix

A workshop on dotmatrix took place in BRAC University Mohakhali Campus. The workshop was organized by BRAC University Computer Club (BUCC). The key speaker of the program was Mahbub uz Zaman, the president of BUCC.

As arduino is a very effective for display works, Mahbub uz Zaman mainly focused his speech on arduino board. Throughout his presentation, he discussed the patterns and features of different kind of arduino boards. He pointed the locations of both the analog and digital pins on the board and discussed their functionalities. He also explained how the board works in the back end and how to work with the board.
After introducing the arduino, he also discussed about the accessories needed to use this display system and the tricks to make it more effective and usable.
After the discussion about hardware part, he focused on the coding part; he shared a comprehensive idea about the coding and code related tactics. In this part, he mainly gave emphasis on the code resetting.

After the coding part, there was a break and was arrangement for some refreshment. Finally, he showed how to upload dotmatrix code in real world. This time the students seemed very excited to see that. In addition, he showed a normal led blinking display and a seven-segment display using dotmatrix. A good number of BRAC University students were present in the workshop with the BUCC members. The audience enjoyed the workshop till the end.

Freshers' Fusion organized by BRAC University Natural Sciences Club

Like almost all the preceding semesters, BRAC University Natural Sciences Club (BUNSC) came up with yet another orientation program for the fresher on the 20th of February, 2013. This club is mainly comprised of students from the Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (MNS). The team of fresh executives involved with the event named it "Freshers' Fusion", signifying the union of the old with the new. The program was a concise one with a brief formal presentation that introduced the new faces with the Advisor, Dr. Mahboob Hossain, Associate Professor, Microbiology Program, the Co-Advisors and executive members of the club. The presentation also informed the newcomers of the goals, motto and past activities. A brief speech was given by Md. Shamsul Kaonain, Lecturer, CSE, who is the founder President of the club. He was also one of the Co-Advisors of the club. The speech was followed by cultural performances by some of the students. Following the performance was an informal presentation whose main target was to facilitate the interaction with the students. The presentation acted as an ice breaker for the new members present. After that presentation, the new president, Maisha Mosharrat Chowdhury, gave her welcome speech. Another speech given by Farhaan Uddin Ahmed, the President of "Moot Court Society" played an important role. He encouraged the freshers to join the club and work for it. Dr. Md. Sorowar Hossain, Assistant Professor, MNS provided a speech on health issues and encouraged members to participate in awareness programs for different health issues through this club. The speech was followed by light refreshments. An announcement was then made about a competition on designing a new logo for the club. Prior to the end of the program, the freshers were divided into different groups, each led by an executive member. The group divisions were done with a view to train and groom the newcomers, so they may take up responsibilities in the future. Each of the new members were given gifts to make the event memorable. The program was a success, and BUNSC wishes to carry out similar events in the future.

Orientation

ROBU started spring 2013 with a bang with over 190 students signing up at Club fair. Out of them 54 made it to the fresher's orientation. We were able to conduct the orientation program successfully. The new members of ROBU seemed very enthusiastic which is worth appreciation. They have shown their interest and their wide range of ideas through the ROBOT CONCEPT Competition where they had to built and present an idea for a robot within 10-12 minutes. It will certainly help them in the coming days while making robots. All of the groups did fantastic jobs, therefore awarded with some gifts.

It was a successful event of ROBU in the starting of this semester. We hope the upcoming events will be successful too with the support of the members of ROBU. We cordially thank our adviser Khalil sir, co-adviser Jahangir alam sir and Risul karim, Ex President Jonayet Vhai, the EB members and all new members of ROBU for making the orientation program a success.

MUISICON- Keeping the Beats Alive

BRAC University Cultural Club represented BRAC University and became the proud winners in MUSICon- Keeping the Beats Alive, an inter-university music talent showdown on Friday, 29th of March 2013, at Saffron, Gulshan. The event was organized by 7Teen events in association with element 79. The other universities that participated were BUP, IBA-DU and EWU. The universities were rated by an expert judge panel, adjudication judge panel and audience poll. Along with the performances from the universities, a couple of guest performers- The Manager, Circus Police, The Magic of Fahad Kabir and the long awaited Old School, made the event much more of a success. BRAC University Cultural Club's advisor Amir Ibne Sharif was also present in the event to boost up the participant's confidence. The gates opened at 2pm, and the competition started 3pm onwards. The powerhouse performances kept the audience awestruck. BRAC University was the last one to perform among the universities. They covered three songs- Mayabono Biharini (Robindro), Be Yourself by Audioslave, Rong by The Watson Brothers and finally the unbeatable dance group FACELESS. BRAC scored a total of 338 marks from the judge panel, 352 marks from the adjudication panel and 256 votes which resulted in a total of 332.2 points. East West gave BRAC a tough fight resulting in a total of 330.7 points. However, with the blend of mesmerizing and powerhouse performances, unlimited energy, proper coherence in the acts and a basket full of creativity, BRAC became the winner and was handed the trophy along with a 10000 tk price bond. The event turned out to be a big success, and BRAC University Cultural Club, once again made a significant mark in the history of BRAC University.

Visit to SritiSoudho

On 26th March 31, 2013 Brac University students visited the JatiyoSritiSoudho, otherwise known as National Martyr's Memorial. We started off at 8.30 am and reached there at around 11' O clock. As we neared the gate we could see huge masses gathering to show their respect. After half an hour struggling through the traffic we finally made it. The National Martyr's Memorial is located in Savar at about 35 km north-west of Dhaka and was designed by Syed MainulHossain. This was built as a symbol for those who sacrificed their lives in the Liberation War of 1971.Its fine architecture caught our eyes as the monument stood still while we showed our respect for those departed. It is composed of seven isosceles triangular pyramid shaped structures. The center oneof these triangles is the highest and reaches up to about 150 feet. In addition to this there is an artificial lake and mass graves placed right in front of the monument. This fantastic monument is a magnificent site and is one of our proud heritage locations. We at the Brac University are proud to have visited such a wonderful site. This was organized by the Brac University Heritage Forum (BUHF). 

PITHA UTHSHOB

As winter ends and the spring breeze come knocking our door BRAC University Heritage Forum(BUHF) organized a Pitha Uthshob on 7th February in our café. The pitha festival was a platform for our fellow students to interact and socialize in a beautiful weather. Many of our members brought in home made pithas to the pitha festival. The stalls had a variety of pithas with many designs and finger licking taste. Everyone of heritage forum was dressed in traditional attire. Ladies wore various colored sarees and the men wore panjabis. As heritage forum ensures our culture is preserved, this pitha festival gave us an opportunity to bring in our historic culture of winter pitha festivals. We appreciate everyone's presence in the venue and thank everyone for making it a great success. 

21st FEBRUARY

Everyone, at every stage of life have experienced many moments where they realized the importance of language and no one knows the importance of language better than Bangladeshis. A country where our language soldiers gave their life for our beautiful surreal language can not go without a dedication specific to them.
On the morning of International mother language day, students of BRAC University forum gathered together in front of the campus and collectively stared our journey to Shaheed Minar. Students went with flowers and banners to show respect for our language martyrs. From the gates of Dhaka university students of heritage forum marched together to reach Shaheed Minar and give flowers in respect of the martyrs. Though the scorching heat was unbearable but nothing could change our intentions to go there because this heat was nothing compare to the sacrifice of the language soldiers. After a long walk we placed our flower in front of Shaheed Minar. After that we walked back to our vehicle and started our journey back to the university.

SPH Updates

JPGSPH organizes short course on Oncology

James P. Grant School of Public Health (JPGSPH) at BRAC University organizes a short course on "Innovative Public Health Approaches to Cancer Care: Global and Local perspectives" from March 24 to 28, 2013. Dr. Ophira Ginsburg (Medical Oncology, Public Health, University of Toronto) and Dr Rumana Dowla (Founder Chairperson, Bangladesh Palliative and Supportive Care Foundation, Dhaka) facilitated the course. Total 17 participants from six organizations, including BRAC, icddr,b and BSMMU took part in the course.

Cancer kills more people than HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria combined and is an emerging epidemic in low and middle-income countries. The course covered understanding the basic biology and causes of the most common cancers in men and women, the burden of disease in Bangladesh, the importance of prevention, early detection and screening as well as capacity-building for appropriate treatment and follow-up. The role of the Public Health Professional and innovative engagement of community health workers (CHWs) in cancer control have been emphasized in the course. Prof. Timothy G. Evans, Dean of JPGSPH gave away certificates to the participants after the completion of the course. 

EDP course focuses on Evaluation for public decision making

James P Grant school of Public Health BRAC University in collaboration with UNICEF organized a short course on Evaluation of Development Programme (EDP) from March 23 to 30, 2013. The course was tailored for development practitioners of Bangladesh. National and international faculties and experts from JPGSPH, icddr,b, UNICEF and BRAC facilitated the course. Total 32 participants from six organizations, including GoB, BRAC and icddr,b took part in the course.

The objective of the course was to provide a comprehensive analytical framework and practical learning experience for those involved in commissioning, managing or conducting evaluations of public policies or social sector programmes. Anchored in a development framework, the programme examines the purposes of different types of evaluations, as well as its design, methodologies and management. Through a combination of case studies, practical exercises and presentations, the course has equiped participants with tools, perspectives, frameworks and managerial skills needed to strengthen evaluation capacities, engage stakeholders, and enhance the utility of evaluation for public decision making. Prof. Timothy G. Evans, Dean of JPGSPH gave away certificates to the participants after the completion of the course.

"New faces in campus" and "Leaving us"

New faces at BRACU

C3ER: Mr. Abu Sadat Moniruzzaman Khan joined as a Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Climate Change and Environmental Research in March 2013.  Mr. Khan did his M.Sc, in Natural Resources Management from Asian Institute of Technology and in Geography and Environmental Resources from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. Earlier he completed his first Masters in Geography from University of Dhaka.

TLC: Mr. Muhammad Foysal Mubarak joined as a Lecturer in the Teaching Learning Centre in March 2013. Mr. Mubarak did both his B.Ed (Hons.) and M.Ed in Education from Institute of Education and Research, University of Dhaka.

Admin: Ms. Halima Akter joined as a Resident Nurse at BRAC University Savar Campus, TARC in March 2013. She did her Diploma both in Nursing and Midwifery from Dhaka Nursing College.

Mr. Subrata Biswas joined as a Library Assistant at BRAC University Savar Campus, TARC in March 2013. Mr. Biswas did his Bachelor of Social Science from Bangladesh Open University.

Left from BRACU

Ms. Zinnatul Borak, Psycho Social Counselor in the Counseling Team left BRACU in January 2013. Mr. Md. Mahbub Alam, served as a Procurement Officer also left in March.

TLC Updates

Cultivating Critical Thinking and Experiential Learning in Teaching at BRAC University during March 20-21 and 23

TLC organized three-day program on Cultivating Critical Thinking and Experiential Learning in Teaching at BRAC University. The facilitators were Dr. Mark Nowacki and Ms. Eunice Nowacki from Singapore LogicMills School, (a school who works for teaching analytical and critical thinking skills using games.)

On March 20th, the facilitators visited BRAC University. They had an informal discussion with BIL faculty members in the morning; then they observed two separate classes of BRACU undergraduate program. The first class was from ENH department conducted by Ms. Mushira Habib and the second one was from BBS , conducted by Mr. Shafayet Ullah. After lunch break, they sat with some of the BRACU senior most students and the fresher students separately. They intended to know what sort of critical thinking process is being practicing at BRAC University teaching-learning process. The discussions followed by some interesting group activity (play) .The day-one activities were ended-up with sharing with BRACU Savar Campus Faculty members. Six members from residential campus including Campus superintended and the director of BIL were present in the discussion. On March 21st, a day-long workshop was organized with BRACU faculty members. The objective of the workshop was to explore the processes through which critical thinking and experiential learning could be integrated in BRACU teaching. From each of the departments/schools/centers/institutes two faculty members were selected to attend in this workshop. On March 23 there was a special session with all Heads of BRAC University. Mark and Eunice met all the Heads/Directors/ Chairpersons of all the departments/ Schools/Centers/Institutes of BRAC University. Mark and Eunice shared their experiences and findings, they found throughout last two days. The discussions took place on i) the strategy on how to integrate critical thinking and experiential learning in university teaching and ii) what would be the capacity building of teachers and students. Some suggestions were also given by the heads for further activity. The session wrapped up by vote of thanks by Prof. Md. Golam Samdani Fakir, Director TLC. 

Day-long workshop on "Organizational Behaviors: Strengthening the positive impact of 5Cs" on March 7

TLC organized and facilitated a day-long workshop on Organizational Behavior for the admin and management staff (batch-II) of BRAC University. It took place at BRACU auditorium. A total nineteen people participated in the workshop. Several sessions were facilitated on - Communication: Interpersonal & Organizational, Commitment: The Role of Individual Motivation and Level of Confidence, The Role of 3Cs-cooperation, collaboration & coordination. A number of group activity and discussions were carried through - out the workshop. A special session on Managing Stress at workplace was conducted by the Counseling Unit of BRAC University .The workshop was wrapped up by sharing reflections and feedback. 

Giving support in facilitating PSDP class on March 14

TLC gave support to Career services office (CSO) in the 3rd PSDP class on March 14th. The focus of the session was- Career placement opportunity. There was a group discussion on Subject Specific Competency followed by identifying Areas of improvement and remedy. The students were given a personal action plan to be prepared and to be submitted in the following class. From TLC, Mr. Sheikh Mohammad Ali and MS. Sabrina Syed (faculty members) co-facilitated to the Business and non-business sections accordingly with Ms. Asma Banu and Mr. Kumar Murshid from CSO.

Session on "Self Discovering through Johari Window "at BRACU residential semester on March 23

This integrated session was designed for the residential semester students, spring 2013. The objectives of the session was to identify own areas of personal weakness and explore own potentials through Johari window tools. Moreover, the tools help the students to learn how to give and receive constructive feedbacks. A number of individual and group activities were applied on Self-Disclosure Indicator, Evaluation Grid, Circle of Concern and Circle of Influence, and Self-Discovering Instrument: List of 56 Adjectives. The session was conducted simultaneously in all 13 sections from 9.00a.m.-11.00 a.m. From TLC, Prof. Md. Golam Samdani Fakir, Sheikh Mohammad Ali, Samina Anzum and Sabrina Syed facilitated separate sessions.

Finding the Lucky Winners and gifts distribution session at BBS on March

Recently TLC has conducted a study on students perception on "Group work" at BRAC University .The study has been limited to gather data only from BBS students who have already earned 27 credits or above.For the data collection TLC applied an on-line survey questionnaire (monkey-survey)among BBS students . A total 215 students responded to the survey successfully. And among all those 215, TLC found out Ten lucky winners randomly who were given some attractive gift package for contributing their time and opinion to the survey. the gift distribution session was organized at BBS conference room and the ten lucky winners were invited. The students shared their experiences and feeling regarding the study area and also made some comments on the survey questionnaire. The session was ended by giving the gift package to the students followed by a refreshment. Beside Director and faculty members of TLC, Mr. Mohammad Rezaul Razzak, (Assistant Professor), Mr. Suntu Kumar Ghosh   ( Assistant Professor) and Mr. Mostak Ahmed, (Senior DCO) from BBS department were present there.

Presence of BRACU in the condolence meeting for the Chancellor of BRAC University 

Members of BRAC University attended a condolence meeting for the immediate passed away President of Bangladesh and Chancellor of the Universities Md. Zillur Rahman on March 24 ,2013. The meeting was organized by the University Grants Commission and was held at the Nobab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban of Dhaka University. The meeting was presided by Professor A. K. Azad Chowdhury, Chairman, University Grants Commission, Bangladesh. Mr. Nurul Islam Nahid, MP, Honourable Minister, Ministry of Education, was present as the Chief Guest. Representatives from all 104 public and private universities of Bangladesh were present in the meeting. Several participants shared on the life of Md. Zillur Rahman and his contribution for higher education of Bangladesh who just passed away on 20th March, 2013. From BRAC University Prof. Md. Golam Samdani Fakir, Director, TLC, Mr. Sukhen Kumar Sarkar, Treasurer, Mr. Monojit Kumar Ojha, Head of Accounts, Mr. Sheikh Mohammad Ali, Senior Lecturer and Muhammad Foysal Mubarak, Lecturer, TLC were present in the condolence meeting.

TLC New joining

Muhammad Foysal Mubarak has joined TLC as a full time faculty member with the status of Lecturer-I on March 6th, 2013. He did his B.Ed. and M.Ed. with major in language education from Institute of Education and Research (IER), University of Dhaka. Presently he is doing M.Phil on English Language Teaching Method. Before joining BRAC University, he worked as an Adjunct Lecturer in Department of Education, Prime University, Dhaka. Foysal has the experiences working as a Researcher at Institute of Education and Research (IER), Research Associate in DPEd Programme in Collaboration with UNICEF and Dhaka Ahsania Mission and Researcher in LEADR Project of Center for Sustainable Development, ULAB in partnership with Action Aid. He has the expertise and keen interest doing educational research.