INTRODUCTION

The quality and relevance of education the young generation in Bangladesh receives is of great importance to our country’s development. The nation, therefore, has a great stake in how our universities are educating and training the students. Soon after the emergence of Bangladesh in 1971, the public universities were stretched to their limits in accommodating the growing number of students seeking higher education. To prevent the outflow of talented students to foreign universities, the government of Bangladesh enacted the Private University Act 1992 which increased the educational opportunities within the country. The Presidency University Foundation, a dynamic group of 30 teachers, leaders of business and industry, and retired government officers, came together and petitioned the government for a permit to establish and operate Presidency University. On July 21, 2003, the Ministry of Education (MoE) of the Government of Bangladesh (GoB), in keeping with the Private University Act 1992, authorized the establishment and operation of Presidency University. Thereafter, Presidency University opened its door to students in September of 2003.

SPONSORSHIP

The Principal Sponsor of Presidency University is Mr. Muslehuddin Ahmad, a former Secretary and Ambassador of Bangladesh, who was also the sponsor and Founder President (VC) of North South University. Indeed it is he who first came out with the proposal to establish a private university in Bangladesh in 1988. On the basis of an article, The Private University in Bangladesh, an initial proposal, by Junaid K. Ahmad, which was published first on February 2, 1988 in Bidesh Bangla, a magazine published in California, USA. With his direct experience of over a decade to establish and run a private university, Mr. Muslehuddin Ahmad was aware of the opportunities and the difficulties. It was his mission to set up another university that can really be a center of Excellence and be the Model for others and hence the justification for another private university - Presidency University.