An academic building of SUSTThe 1 km; entranceway to SUST campus
Shahjalal University of Science and Technology was established in 1986. The campus is located in Kumargaon, approximately six kilometers away from the heart of Sylhet City Centre. The university started its academic program with three departments: physics, chemistry, and economics. Renowned scientist and educator Sadruddin Ahmed Chowdhury was the first Vice-chancellor of the university. The first convocation of SUST was held on 29 April 1998 and the second convocation held on 6 December 2007 where the third convocation was held on 8 January 2020.[8][9] At present, SUST has 7,662 students, 487 academic staffs and 772 administrative staffs; i.e. the university has 6.09 students per staff.
SUST is the first university in Bangladesh providing whole campus free Wi-Fi access for students and staff.[10] The university introduced an integrated honors course for the first time in Bangladesh[5] and it introduced the semester system (American credit system) from the 1996-97 session. In 2019, Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) allocated BDT 9.88 billion (US$117 million) fund for 20 development projects of SUST.[1]
The students of SUST invented and introduced the paperless 24/7 SMS Based Automated Registration of Admission Test procedure for the first time in Bangladesh. Interested students can complete the registration process through mobile phone messages. The contemporary government launched the system on 13 September 2009.[11][12][13][14] For the invention, the university won an Ambillion Award in a competition of South Asian countries in 2010[10] and National Award for E-Content and ICT for Development Award 2010.[15][16] Now, most of the public universities in Bangladesh have adopted this process of registration.
Academics
Admission
SUST enrolls undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students. All applicants need to pass the admission test arranged by the specific schools under the authority of admission council, which is highly competitive. In 2018-19 session, SUST received 76,068 undergraduate applications only admitting 1,448; an acceptance rate of 1.90%.[17][18] A total of 71,018 students vied for 1,703 seats at the university for the session 2019–2020.[19]
SUST gives high priority on research. In 2017, the university spent ৳137 million (US$1.3million) in research; the highest research expenditure among all universities in Bangladesh, almost double of the 2nd one.[7]
In 2016, SUST ranked as the top research university in Bangladesh (610th in the world) by Scopus-SCImago institution ranking.[6] In 2019, it ranked 337th[23] in Asia and 610th[24] in the world among 3,471 higher educational institutions. SUST ranked at 445th for research and 493rd for innovation in the world.[25] It ranked 1st in 2015[26] and 3rd in 2021[27] among all universities in Bangladesh by Webometrics.
In 2018, the team from SUST became the world champion of NASASpace Apps Challenge among 1,395 local winning teams from around the world.[28][29] In the International Theoretical Physics Olympiad 2019, seven teams from SUST got place among finalist 88 and achieved 15th spot in the world (highest individual achievement of an Asian University).[30] Due to pioneering contributions in science and technology, the university is often referred as Stanford of the east.
Conference
Central Auditorium Interior
The biggest yearly conference of SUST is International Conference on Engineering Research, Innovation and Education (ICERIE). In ICERIE, several hundred universities attend from different parts of the world and present research papers in the various fields of applied sciences, architecture, and engineering.
Other significant conferences of SUST:
International Conference on Social Work and Sustainable Social Development (ICSCWSSD)
International Conference on Materials Chemistry (ICMC)
International Conference on Advance in Physics (ICAP)
International Conference on Environmental Technology and Construction Engineering for Sustainable Development (ICETCESD)
In 2019, SUST organized the first-ever International Convention of Vice-Chancellors (ICVC) in Bangladesh.[31] In 1999, SUST hosted the 3rd International Conference on Computer and Information Technology. In addition to these, the academic departments host numerous conferences on respective fields regularly.
Collaboration
SUST has academic and research collaboration with following institutes:
Since 2011, SUST has arranged an annual three-day CSE Carnival. The carnival features a programming contest, software developing competition, and related events. In 2015, it involved 1,000 students in 145 teams from 46 universities.[38][39]
Schools and departments
SUST is the first public university to introduce undergraduate programs in Software Engineering in Bangladesh. It is the second oldest in the country to introduce engineering education in the fields of Chemical, Computer Science, Industrial & Production, Petroleum & Mining. Also, the third oldest to introduce Architecture, Food Engineering & Tea Technology, Genetic engineering & Biotechnology programs in the country. In total, SUST has 27 departments under seven schools:
SUST is the first and only university in Bangladesh to initiate the "Second Major Program" under department of Computer Science & Engineering, where a student can enroll in another department as the second major besides his/her first major. Currently, only three departments: EEE, Physics, Mathematics offer a second major degree as department of Computer Science & Engineering has stopped taking new students. A student studying in this university has to sit for an aptitude test after his/her first year of study to be considered for the program as there are only a limited number of students who can enroll in this program. Any students from the School of Applied Sciences & Technology, the School of Life Sciences, the School of Physical Sciences, the School of Agricultural & Mineral Sciences can sit for the test, and they can so only after their first year of study in the university. A "Second Major" degree is awarded on completion of 36 credits of core courses from the respective department.
SUST Department of Architecture is the 3rd oldest public architecture school in Bangladesh. The Center for Research, Testing, and Consultancy (CRTC Architecture) focus on research areas such as building planning and design, interior design, landscape development, urban planning, and urban renewal, conservation of historical sites and monuments, the architecture of Bengal region, sustainable design, low-cost housing, etc. according to the regional context. The center has been widely working with the traditional house forms, settlement patterns, urban growth, and architectural development of the region.
CRTC CSE
SUST programming team placed 98th among 2200 universities in ACM ICPC 2012
The CRTC program, Department of Computer Science & Engineering focuses on research areas such as Optical Character Recognition, Parallel Processing, Cluster Computer, CodeWitz, Asia Link Project, Cellular Phone & Computer Interfacing, Bangla Computerization, Natural Language Processing etc. The software house offers professional working environment to the students.[44]
CRTC CEE
Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) department established the center for research, testing, and consultancy (CRTC) to provide research, testing, and consultancy services in 2003. CRTC designed a water treatment plant to remove a high concentration of iron (>11 mg/lit) in groundwater of the Sylhet region; such a plant has been successfully operating in Hotels in Sylhet city. CTRC already planned and designed the structural and drainage systems of the Madina Garden City near Sylhet International Airport, including EIA, and recently has been working for Gazi Burhan Uddin Model City near Sylhet upashahar. CRTC has been performing all kinds of testing in the field of water, wastewater, cement, concrete, rod beam, soil, air, noise, etc. since 2003.
CRTC Physics
The CRTC program, Department of Physics has numbers of research groups have research activities in areas of Theoretical and Experimental Nuclear Physics, Nonlinear Optics, Thin-film Magnetism, Neutron Scattering, Neutron Activation Analysis, Neutron Radiography, Defects in Solids, Semiconductor Physics, Condensed Matter Physics, Gravitational Physics and Celestial Mechanics and Theoretical Physics.[45] In 2015, CRTC Physics invented low cost technology to detect cancer.[46]
Campus
Campus life
Liberation War Memorial Chetona'71Mascots made by the Architecture students, for the Pohela Boishakh procession
SUST has an urban campus area of 320 acres. Many visitors come to Sylhet to visit the "Shahid Minar" (Martyr's Memorial) of the university. The memorial stands on the top of a small hill and is surrounded by trees. Different cultural organizations arrange programs on the premises on local and national occasions. The Kilo Road is an entrance to the SUST campus known for green vista. The first-ever Bangladesh Mathematical Olympiad was held in Shahjalal University of Science and Technology in 2004.[47]
Classes
SUST has an extensive core curriculum required of all undergraduates. SUST is the first university in Bangladesh to adopt American course credit systems for all departments. The syllabus is always updated frequently to maintain the global standard of education.
Library
University Central Library
SUST has a common Central Library with a collection of 180,000 volumes and 300 current periodical subscriptions for all academic departments. The library includes electronic copies of books, which can be accessed from any academic department through electronic local area networking (LAN). Per year around 2000 volumes are added to this library. The library building of SUST is known for its triangular shape. It also has a free internet browsing facility and rental library program. Additionally, there is also a departmental library in each academic department and hall library in each residential halls. The library has an Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC).[48]
There are also well-decorated houses for the faculty members of SUST. University authorities also run some private halls of residence outside the main campus, especially for female students to guarantee the house for female students. These halls are:
Darul Aman Chatrabas
Amir Complex
Fazal Complex
Samad House
Maa Manjil
Sunu Mia Complex
Sports
The students of this university participate in sports for recreation, and the finest athletes regularly compete in inter-university games like football, handball, volleyball, basketball, etc. SUST has some varsity teams. There is a Cricket ground, a Football ground, a Basketball ground, and a well-equipped gymnasium adjacent to the university student health center. SUST is the only university to have Professional Cricket League and Professional Football League. Students organize both inter-department and inter-university tournaments every year. Girls and teachers also participate in several games.[citation needed]
BNCC
SUST has two Bangladesh National Cadet Corps platoons, one for male and another one for female. Both the platoons train students as cadets. Cadets can enroll a course on Military Science as auxiliary subject.
University School
SUST has a university school of secondary level inside the campus for the children of staff. The school also receives general students.
Cultural organizations
The following cultural organizations are present in the university:[49]
SUST sued one of its students for an alleged derogatory Facebook post about a dead politician of the ruling party of Bangladesh. On 13 June 2020, a final year student of the economics department posted a Facebook status after Bangladesh Awami League leader Mohammed Nasim. After that, SUST Registrar Mohammed Ishfaqul Hussain filed a case with Jalalabad Police Station On behalf of the university. The case was filed under sections 25 and 29 of the Digital Security Act. When asked about how the university can sue a student for something personal and did not violate the proctorial rules, the VC Farid Uddin Ahmed explained to Daily Star's journalist that the student had ruined the university's image.[50]
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, commonly known by the acronym BUET, is a public technological research university in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Founded in 1876 as the Dacca Survey School and gained university status in 1962, it is the oldest institution for the study of engineering, architecture, and urban planning in Bangladesh.
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Muhammed Zafar Iqbal is a Bangladeshi science fiction author, physicist, academic, activist and former professor of computer science and engineering and former head of the department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST). He achieved his PhD from University of Washington. After working 18 years as a scientist at California Institute of Technology and Bell Communications Research, he returned to Bangladesh and joined Shahjalal University of Science and Technology as a professor of Computer Science and Engineering. He retired from his teaching profession in October 2018. He is considered one of Bangladesh's top science fiction writers.
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