Bangladesh Agricultural University


Bangladesh Agricultural University or BAU was established as the only university of its kind in Bangladesh in 1961. The scheme for BAU was finalised on 8 June 1961 and its ordinance was promulgated on 18 August 1961. It started functioning with the College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry at Mymensingh as its nucleus. The university has six faculties and 43 departments covering all aspects of agricultural education and research.
BAU was the second highest budgeted public university in Bangladesh for the year 2013–2014. It is ranked number one university of Bangladesh according to the webmatrix university ranking 2017. BAU's research in agriculture has made it well recognised across Asia. It also have a very low teacher-student ratio.

Location

The campus has an area of, and is located rural surroundings south of the district town of Mymensingh. The campus is made up of academic, administrative and residential buildings and l farms, gardens and other related facilities.
Two national research institutes, Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture and Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute 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' ." 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.

Administration

Partial list of the vice-chancellors of the university:
There are 45 departments under 6 faculties.

Faculty of Veterinary Science

Veterinary Science faculty is the leading faculty of the university which established in 1961. This faculty has gifted quality Veterinarian for the country. Veterinarians has huge scope in research organization, commercial farms, agro industries, milk and meat processing industries. Along with these, Faculty of Veterinary Science is contributing on research for diseases, zoonoses, health improvements, livestock reproductive health and development. Besides, this faculty has huge contribution in poultry and dairy industry.
Degree offered by the faculty-
Faculty of Animal Husbandry at Bangladesh Agricultural University has been established in 1962. Since 1962,Professors & Graduates of Animal Husbandry are enrolling for the development of Livestock Industry in Bangladesh. Recently AH's new Department has inaugurated at Patuakhali Science & Technology University. Background history of Animal Husbandry, East Pakistan Agricultural University was established in 1961 to bring together in one campus the higher education in agriculture and all allied subjects including Animal Husbandry. Later on academic development programme East Pakistan Agricultural University firmly realized that the subject "Animal Husbandry" is important enough to be a Faculty on its own. As such the Faculty of Animal Husbandry was established in 1962 and began to offer Bachelor degree in Animal Husbandry. The objectives of establishment of the Faculty of Animal Husbandry is to produce first grade animal production graduates, scientists and researchers to play key role in agricultural development through increased livestock production. The educational goal of the faculty includes teaching, research, training and extension. The aim of teaching, for example, is the creation of professional and technical manpower in animal production and related fields such as animal breeding and reproduction, animal nutrition, in dairy, poultry, meat and draught animal production.
Currently the faculty of Animal Husbandry is offering the following degree programs:
The Graduate Training Institute is the first institute of BAU, established in 1976 with the financial assistance of FAO/UNDP to train officers working in agriculture and rural development sector in the country. The 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 74-bed dormitory, suitable for running two residential training courses simultaneously. It offers non-residential training to postgraduate students, officers, employees and teachers of BAU. GTI has two modern PC labs for organizing IT-related training courses.
Foundation Training for University Teachers
In 2007, the institute introduced "Foundation Training for Public University Teachers" with the financial support from University Grants Commission of Bangladesh. Till December 2017, 19 courses on Foundation Training for University Teachers have been completed; 443 young teachers from 30 public universities have attended in these courses.
The course included modules like:
  1. Teaching Methods & Techniques, Learning Assessment, Curriculum & Syllabus,
  2. Research Methods & Project Management,
  3. Scientific Report Writing,
  4. Statistical Methods for Research & Data Analysis,
  5. Administration and Office Management,
  6. Global and Local Development issues,
  7. IT skills, and co-curricular activities.
Foundation Training for University Officers
GTI organizes Foundation Training course for newly recruited officers of public universities in Bangladesh. The institute conducted 11 such courses, each with 25-30 participants since 2010.

Library

BAU central library has a collection of over 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.

Admissions

Undergraduate program

Undergraduate admissions in BAU are competitive. After completion of HSC 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 or equivalent examination in 2013 or 2014 and HSC 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 enrollment per year = 1230.
Bangladeshi all Agriculture University association has decided that undergraduate admission test will be combined from academic session 2019-2020. After admission test merit list, students will admit according to merit score of seven Agriculture University. All seven Agriculture University has available seats 3551 including Bangladesh Agriculture University.

MS/PhD program

M.S. and PhD programs are available as follows:
In the case of foreign nationals, applicants must have completed 12 years of schooling and passed courses equivalent to HSC 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 of Bangladesh having Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Biology and English in his/her curricula.

Training

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 is responsible for co-ordinating both streams.
For co-ordination and management of research projects, BAU Research System 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, Department for International Development of UK, Norwegian Agency for International Development, International Foundation for Science, etc.

Publications

The Journal of the Bangladesh Agricultural University is published in June and December on behalf of the Bangladesh Agricultural University Research System. Original research papers, review articles and short communications are published.

Infrastructure

Boys' halls

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, 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 United States Agency for International Development, 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, Danish International Development Agency, Canadian International Development Agency, and International Atomic Energy Agency.
The university receives funding support from Department for International Development, Food and Agriculture Organization, International Rice Research Institute, Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific, IMI plc, 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 with the Texas A&M University, Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Florida A&M University, Brooklyn College and Research Foundation of the City University of New York, and Ghent University of Belgium.
The university has linkage programs with national organisations like Rural Development Academy, Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre, and organisations from the National Agricultural Research System in the fields of research, training and extension.

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