Bangladesh Agricultural University

Location

The campus, with an area of 4.85 square kilometres (1.87 sq mi), is in scenic rural surroundings on the western bank of the old Brahmaputra River, 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south of the district town of Mymensingh and 120 kilometres (75 mi) north of Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. The campus is made up of academic, administrative and residential buildings and experimental farms, gardens and other related facilities.

Two national research institutes, Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA) and Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI) are housed in this campus.

War of liberation

During the days of the war of liberation in 1971, the teachers, students, officers and employees of the university responded to the call of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to join the war of liberation. The vice-chancellor Q.M.F. Rahim declared: "From now on this university will be named as 'Swadhin Bangladesh Krishi Bishwabidyalaya' [Independent Bangladesh Agricultural University]." Teachers, students, officers and employees of BAU joined the war, and the university lost 18 members – one teacher, eleven students and six employees.

Three halls of student residence have been named after fighters who lost their lives in the war of liberation: Shahid Shamsul Huq Hall, Shahid Nazmul Ahsan Hall and Shahid Jamal Hossain Hall.

Faculty of Veterinary Science

Faculty of Agriculture

Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Technology

Faculty of Animal Husbandry

Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology

Faculty of Fisheries

Graduate Training Institute (GTI)

The Graduate Training Institute is the first institute of BAU, established in 1976. GTI was established with the financial assistance of FAO/UNDP to train officers working in agriculture and rural development. GTI performs the third function of the university: extension and community service. The motive behind establishing GTI in BAU campus was to make links between teaching, research and extension. Through GTI, the BAU teachers get an opportunity to interact with field-level officers working throughout the country. More than 500 teachers working in BAU are the trainers of GTI.

The institute has a 60-bed dormitory, suitable for running two residential training courses simultaneously. It offers non-residential training to postgraduate students, officers, employees and teachers. GTI has two modern PC labs for organising IT-related training courses. The capacity of the infrastructure is above 3,000, but about 350 users are using the facility in its initial phase. The institute runs about 50–60 short training courses per year.

GTI was awarded the President Gold Medal in 1981.

In 2007 the institute introduced Foundation Training for Public University Teachers with the University Grants Commission providing financial support. The 14th course on Foundation Training for University Teachers was completed in June 2014; 318 young teachers from 25 public universities have attended the courses. The course includes the history of tertiary education, education psychology, research methodology, statistical methods for research, scientific report writing, office management, global and local development issues, teaching quality and teacher ethics, learning assessment,IT skills, and co-curricular activities.

GTI has organised a Foundation Training course for newly recruited officers of public universities in Bangladesh. The institute conducted two such courses for 56 participants from 15 universities up to June 2010.

Library

BAU central library has a collection of over 192,978 volumes and 2,000 periodicals. The number of journals is 151. The library has copies of MS and PhD theses. Besides the central library, the Faculty of Agricultural Economics & Rural Sociology has its own library which contains reference books and journals in the field of Agricultural Economics.

Undergraduate program

Undergraduate admissions in BAU are competitive. After completion of HSC (Higher Secondary School Certificate) education, a student can submit his/her application for undergraduate admission if they fulfill the minimum requirements. A candidate is eligible to apply for admission into Level 1, Semester 1 of undergraduate studies as offered by six faculties of BAU for the year 2017 must have passed SSC (Science group) or equivalent examination in 2013 or 2014 and HSC (Science group) or equivalent examination in 2015 or 2016 with a total of 9.0 GPA.

As of 2016–2017 session, the general distribution of seats for admission into Level 1, Semester 1 of the undergraduate courses as offered by six faculties BAU will be as follows:

This is including all Freedom fighters quota and other quotas.

Total enrolment per year = 1200

MS/PhD program

M.S. and PhD programs are available as follows:

Admission of foreign students

In the case of foreign nationals, applicants must have completed 12 years of schooling and passed courses equivalent to HSC (science group) of Bangladesh with Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Biology and obtained equivalent GPA. An applicant has to produce certified academic transcript showing that he/she has studied and passed courses equivalent to HSC (science group) of Bangladesh having Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Biology and English in his/her curricula.

Training

Research

BAU conducts two main streams of research — degree research and project research — the former being supervised by the teachers for postgraduate students at M.S. and PhD levels while the problem-solving research projects are conducted with sponsorship accorded either by the university or external funding agencies. The Committee for Advanced Studies and Research (C.A.S.R.) is responsible for co-ordinating both streams.

For co-ordination and management of research projects, BAU Research System (BAURES) was established in 1984. Since its establishment, BAURES has completed 322 research projects and has 112 ongoing projects. The ongoing research projects are funded by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Department for International Development (DfID) of UK, Norwegian Agency for International Development (NORAD), International Foundation for Science (IFS), etc.

Publications

The Journal of the Bangladesh Agricultural University (ISSN 1810-3030) is published in June and December on behalf of the Bangladesh Agricultural University Research System (BAURES). Original research papers, review articles and short communications are published.

Infrastructure

Boys' halls

Girls' halls

Transportation

The university is three hours by bus from Dhaka, the capital. Inter-city trains take around four hours. The bus terminal and the train station are 2 and 3 kilometres (1.2 and 1.9 mi), respectively, from BAU campus.

The university has its own buses which operate in the morning and evening for the students who live off campus. The buses cover the major roads and areas, especially the town hall, Zilla School corner, Notun Bazar, rail station, Patgodam, Shombhugunj bridge, and Keotkhali. Sometimes, they cover Jubli Ghat and Kali Bari road.

Bilateral collaborations

The USAID, through a contract with the Texas A&M University, provides to the university support in the form of advisory services, fellowships and equipment. Development support was made available through two IDA credit agreements signed between the government and the World Bank in 1964 and 1966. Over the years the university has received research support from international sources including USAID, International Development Association, International Development Research Centre, UNICEF, Ford Foundation, International Labour Organization, DANIDA, Canadian International Development Agency, and IAEA.

The university receives funding support from DFID, FAO, IRRI, CIRDAP, IMI, DANIDA, IAEA, European Union, United States Department of Agriculture, Global Environment Facility and the Ghent University through bi- and multilateral research projects.

The university signed five memoranda of understanding (MOU) with the Texas A&M University, Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Florida A&M and Brooklyn College and Research Foundation of the City University of New York and the Ghent University of Belgium.

The university has linkage programs with national organisations like Rural Development Academy (RDA), Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre (BPATC), and NARS organisations in the fields of research, training and extension.