The National University, Bangladesh (legally: National University,
Bengali: জাতীয় বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়) is a
publiccollegiate university of
Bangladesh that was established in 1992 by an Act of Parliament as an affiliating university of the country to impart graduate and post-graduate level education to the students through its affiliated colleges, schools and professional institutions throughout the country. It is the
third largest university in the world in terms of enrollment. The headquarters is in
Gazipur, on the outskirts of
Dhaka. After its establishment it affiliated association degree awarding colleges, where many of them were previously affiliated by the
University of Dhaka,
University of Rajshahi,
University of Chittagong and
Shahjalal University of Science and Technology.
It is a postgraduate teaching and research university as well as an affiliating university. It is state-run and public. The university has a school and a centre. It has established institutes that provide courses leading to
MPhil and
PhD degrees.
The Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences (IHS) was introduced in 1997 to offer two-year M.Phil. following modern American credit hour and semester system including course work, two-month internship and thesis guided by a supervisor. The M.Phil. is an interdisciplinary degree which is intensive enough to help the students to pursue PhD courses. The course is open to faculty members who are employed at universities and colleges.
Four more institutes – the Institute of Liberation and Bangladesh Studies (ILBS), Institute of National Science (INS), Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), and Institute of Business and Management Studies (IBMS) – have all the formalities complete toward their constitutions and are soon to provide higher courses related to science, needs of life, and national heritage.
Very few of the teachers teaching at honours and masters level have higher training. The training programme of the university is designed to augment the knowledge of the college teachers, enhance their skill in teaching and get them an exposure to higher ideas. Eminent educationists and
scholars of the country are associated with the academic programmes provided on
campus.
There are four academic units:
School of Under Graduate Studies
Centre for Post-Graduate Studies Training & Research
Apart from the units providing campus teaching at Board Bazar, Gazipur, the university has about 2,254 component/affiliated colleges. These colleges under its academic control cater for courses leading to Pass, Honours and master's degrees. The university exercises academic control over the colleges according to the National University Act 1992 mandated by the National Parliament of Bangladesh and the statutes of the university. It provides the curricula and syllabi, arranges admission test, gives guidelines for admission, arranges inspection, holds examination, publishes results, and awards certificates.
The National University of Bangladesh is now the fifth largest university in the world after its 17-year history by its number of registered students at affiliated colleges. It is also one of the largest universities in the world by number of affiliated colleges and number of expanding subjects and courses.