At the initiative of Mr. Hafizur Rahaman Khan, the Honorable Chairman of VUT, a meeting attended by some distinguished educationists and social workers was convened at the Varendra University (proposed) campus in Rajshahi city. In the meeting, Mr. Khan, in his speech, explained the enormous problems prevailing in the sector of higher education of the country, particularly in the northern region. The number of students seeking admission for higher education has been increased in an amazing rate but the number of universities has not been increased proportionately. Naturally, too many students cannot enroll into their undergraduate programs. Many students have to enroll into the colleges under National University which unfortunately cannot impart quality education for constraints of all kinds. Mr. Khan also stressed the deteriorating conditions of higher education which he attributed to mounting physical violence and party-politics in an epidemic scale among the students on the one hand and the involvement of the teachers in extra academic affairs on the other. He, therefore, justified the need of a private University in Rajshahi region to provide quality higher education to the ever increasing number of students and proposed its establishment. He further explained that the campus of the University should be away from the ‘madding crowd’ and it should be calm, quite and tranquil so that academic activities can be pursued in an atmosphere free from the noise and bustle of a big city. All who were present in the meeting accepted his proposal in one voice and urged him to propagate higher education in this less developed part of the country.
