Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) the premier seat of higher agricultural education and research in the country. Its activities cover all the domains of agricultural sciences having direct bearing on terrestrial and aquatic productivity.
The university was established in 1961 on the basis of the recommendations made by the Commission on National Education and the Food and Agriculture Commission in 1959 under the East Pakistan Agricultural University Ordinance, 1961.
The Prime Minister of the Peoples’ Republic of Bangladesh is the Chancellor of the university and the Vice-chancellor is the executive head. The BAU campus, with an area of about 1200 acres is located on the western bank of the old Brahmaputra river, 3 km to the south of Mymensingh town. The campus also houses two national research institutes, namely, bangladesh institute of nuclear agriculture (BINA) and bangladesh fisheries research institute (BFRI).
Academic programmes The University started functioning in 1961 with only 23 teaching departments under 2 faculties (Faculty of Veterinary Science and the Faculty of Agriculture), having a total of 30 teachers and 444 students. The Faculty of Animal Husbandry was added a few months later. The Faculty of Agricultural Economics & Rural Sociology, the Faculty of Agricultural Engineering & Technology, and the Faculty of Fisheries began to function with effect from the sessions 1963-64, 1964-65 and 1967-68 respectively. At present, the University has 41 teaching departments in six faculties.
The University at its Bachelor degree level offers post-HSC courses of 4-year duration leading to the degrees of DVM, BSc Ag (Hons), BSc AH (Hons), BSc Ag Econ (Hons), BSc Ag Engg and BSc Fisheries (Hons). At the Master’s degree level, a total of 35 teaching departments are engaged in conducting course-credit and research based programmes in 3 consecutive semesters. Doctoral programmes are of full-time 3-year duration. At present, PhD programmes are ongoing in 34 departments. During 1999-2000 the faculty strength of BAU was at 404.
The Faculty of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology through its Bureau of Socio-Economic Research and Training, established in 1965, also conducts research and training programmes in the areas of resource allocations, economics of agro-technologies, pricing and marketing of agricultural products, agricultural credit and financial management, rural institution with emphasis on cooperatives, etc. The Bureau also conducts action research programmes on various aspects to test various hypotheses for solving rural problems.
The Bureau of Research, Testing and Consultation attached to the Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Technology has been designed to stimulate research and training on agricultural engineering and to render expert service in the form of testing and consultation in the field of agricultural engineering.
Students’ affairs The university has a students’ affairs division, headed by the Students’ Affairs Adviser to take care of all affairs related to welfare and guidance of students. The division maintains a Teacher Student Centre (TSC) which provides opportunity for friendly association among students, faculty members and University-alumni and foster social and cultural life of students through different cultural organs.