University of Chittagong at 60: Diamond Jubilee Reunion Set for November 18 at Hathazari Campus

The University of Chittagong, home to the largest campus in Bangladesh, will celebrate the 60th anniversary of its founding on November 18. A festive mood has taken over the campus at Jobra village in Hathazari ahead of the diamond jubilee, and more than 4,500 students have already registered to join the daylong programme.

Located about 22 kilometres from Chittagong city, the university began its journey on November 18, 1966, with just four departments — Bangla, English, History and Economics — seven teachers and 200 students. Its first vice-chancellor was Professor Dr Azizur Rahman Mallik.

Over six decades the university has grown across 2,312.32 acres. It now has nine faculties, 48 departments and six institutes, with 920 teachers, around 25,000 students and more than 1,500 officers and employees. The current vice-chancellor, Professor Dr Mohammad Al-Forqan, took office on March 17, 2026, as the university’s 21st vice-chancellor.

Speaking about the diamond jubilee, Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Mohammad Al-Forqan said the university has reached its present position through many transformations and ups and downs, and that several initiatives have been taken to ensure its development and progress. The diamond jubilee celebration is one of them, he said, adding that through it they want to work for the progress of the university and the country.

The November 18 programme, led by the vice-chancellor and managed by the university administration, will include a discussion meeting, reminiscences by alumni and representatives of different batches, and the publication of a special souvenir. The festival will showcase six decades of the university’s history, heritage and achievements.

Housing remains a long-standing problem. Although there are 14 residential halls — nine for male students and five for female students — accommodation is available for only about 7,000 of the university’s 25,942 students. As a result, 75 percent of students must live outside the halls, most of them renting cottages, messes and houses around the campus.

The administration, however, points to notable progress in research. At the university’s 36th senate session, the vice-chancellor said Tk 10 crore had been allocated as research grants for teachers through the research and publication office in fiscal 2025-26, with another Tk 67 lakh set aside for MPhil and other research. A proposal for Tk 29 crore in research grants has also been sent to the UGC for the next fiscal year.

The publication record is striking as well. In 2025, researchers at the university published 615 papers in Scopus-indexed journals, the highest in a single year in its history, including some in international journals such as The Lancet and Nature Communications. To involve students in research, stipends of Tk 10,000 a month for thesis-based master’s students, Tk 20,000 for MPhil students and Tk 40,000 for PhD researchers have also been introduced.

Former student and former president of the CU Journalists’ Association Mohammad Omar Faruk, however, believes more money needs to be allocated to research, saying a university is fundamentally a place of research yet this sector receives the least allocation.

The shuttle train is part of the university’s identity — it is known as the country’s only shuttle-train campus. More than 10,000 students travel from the city by this train every day. Complaints about seat shortages, overcrowding and trains not running on schedule are longstanding; although 10 new and refurbished coaches were added to a shuttle train on June 11, 2026, the crisis has not eased. Eight new buses for students are expected to be launched soon. CU student Mohammad Mizanur Rahman said transport problems are severe at this large campus far from the city and need to be solved.

Sixty years after its founding, a Teacher-Student Centre (TSC) is finally set to be built at the university. A development project proposal prepared with government funding of Tk 49 crore 33 lakh 67 thousand is now awaiting final approval from the Planning Commission, the vice-chancellor said. The five-storey building is planned on about 10,480 square metres beside the central Shaheed Minar, with a digital library, reading rooms, a cafeteria and lecture halls. The project is scheduled for completion by June 30, 2029.

In six decades the university has held only five convocations — the first in 1994, followed by 1999, 2008 and 2016, and the fifth on May 14, 2025, after a nine-year gap. Elections to the central students’ union (CUCSU) have also been held only seven times, most recently on October 15, 2025. During the 1971 Liberation War, one teacher, 12 students and three officials of the university were martyred, and engineering office employee Mohammad Hossain received the Bir Protik title for gallantry.