Rangpur Bureau

A seminar titled "Bridging Academia and Industry for Sustainable Development: Research Excellence, Innovation, and Industrialization" was held last Thursday afternoon at the conference room of the administrative building at Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur. The event aimed to establish an effective link between academia and the industrial sector.

Prof Dr. Abdullah-Al-Mamun, Member of the University Grants Commission (UGC) of Bangladesh, attended the seminar—organized by the university's Institutional Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC)—as the chief guest. University Vice-Chancellor Prof  Dr. Mohammad Shawkat Ali presided over the event.

Chief guest, UGC member Prof  Dr. Abdullah-Al-Mamun said, the primary goal of education should be to enhance skills and knowledge to foster a bridge between education and industry; this alignment ensures that classroom learning meets industrial demands, thereby creating employment opportunities for students. 

With this objective in mind, initiatives are being taken to launch three specialized courses for university-level students starting next January: ICT (Information and Communication Technology) & AI (Artificial Intelligence), Employability Skills, and Ethics & Professionalism.

Prof Dr. Muhammad Rashedul Islam, Vice-Chancellor of Kurigram Agricultural University, and Prof Dr. Mohammad Abu Jafar Khan, Vice-Chancellor of Islamic Arabic University, attended  as special guests.

Following the seminar discussions, Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) were signed between Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur, and seven organizations in the presence of the invited guests. These organizations include Teesta University and Rangpur Community Medical College (RCMC) of the Rangpur Group, Sustainable Agriculture Foundation (SAF), Karupannya Rangpur Limited, Odoo Middle East DMCC Limited, Jobletics Bangladesh, and the Centre for Alternatives, Dhaka. Additionally, representatives from 16 organizations that had previously signed MoUs with the university were present; they described their ongoing collaborative activities and expressed satisfaction regarding student participation and employability. Notable among these organizations are Premium Fruits, Alphatech, Media Resource and Development Initiative (MRDI), Islamic Relief Bangladesh, Janata Bank (Rangpur Lalbagh Branch), and Rupali Bank (Rangpur Tetultala Branch). Deans of various faculties, teachers from different departments, researchers, students, and other stakeholders attended the seminar.