Noakhali Science and Technology University,NSTU

The creation of a band of skilled manpower equipped with latest knowledge of science and technology is a must to achieve a prestigious position in this modern world. As a part of ensuring quality education, with immense expectations of the southern coastal inhabitants of Bangladesh, a new university named Noakhali Science and Technology University (abbreviated as NSTU) was established on 15 July 2001 enacting the Noakhali Science and Technology University Act 2001. Finally, it started its academic activities on 22 June 2006. The inclusion of the study of humanities implies the urge felt by the concerned authority to create leaders who will fashion a more humane and just world. The university not only engages itself in teaching and research but also provides societal services for the benefit of rural and urban populations.

At present, it has three faculties (namely Faculty of Engineering & Technology, Faculty of Science and Faculty of Social Science and Business Studies) and two institutes (namely Institute of Information Science and Institute of Information Technology). The faculties include eighteen degree offering departments namely Department of Computer Science and Telecommunication Engineering (CSTE), Department of Fisheries & Marine Science (FIMS), Department of Pharmacy, Department of Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (ACCE), Department of Microbiology, Department of Applied Mathematics, Department of English, Department of Environmental Science and Disaster Management (ESDM), Department of Food Technology and Nutrition Science (FTNS), Department of Business Administration, Department of Information and Communication Engineering (ICE), Department of Economics, Department of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (BGE), Department of Agriculture (AG), Department of Statistics, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE), Department of Bangladesh and Liberation War Studies, Department of Oceanography and Department of Bangla. Now we have total number of students is 5437 with more than 200 faculty members.

The well furnished central library equipped with online library facilities has 10,000 printed books and 1500 printed journals apart from numerous e-books and e-journals. Since its establishment, NSTU has been running very smoothly. The teachers have extraordinary academic background and excellent skill of presentation. Presently, one fourth of the teachers are doing PhD in different parts of the world. This is the only university in Bangladesh where three individual subjects based exclusively on information study namely Information Science, Information Technology, and Information and Communication Engineering are taught. International conferences, seminars and symposiums are frequently held with participation of the scholars from all over the world. Internal Programming contest is arranged regularly to sharpen the skill as a result of which many national and international awards in programming contests are already in the store of this university. Students of Fisheries and Marine Science as well as Oceanography with their extensive research on healthy marine resources privileged by the location of this university in a coastal arena are contributing greatly to the country's blue economy. Co-curricular activities are extensively patronized. There are students' organizations like NSTUMUNA, NSTU Debating Society, NSTU English Club, NSTU Business Club etc which work to develop leadership capacity of a student by promoting the art of public speaking, reasoning and logical thinking. Besides, NSTU Blood Donors Society, DreamBazz Filmz, Moshal, Protiddhoni, NSTU Photographic Society etc are there whose activities aim at the formation of a non-communal and progressive cultural mind.

The way the national and international days are observed and different cultural festivals are celebrated with active participation of not only the students but the local dwellers as well has turned the campus into a cultural capital of this southern region. The slogan "Green NSTU, Clean NSTU" has been an inspiring tonic among all in keeping this naturally blessed green campus neat and clean. The calm, quiet & soothing environment of the campus, modeled upon the western modern universities like the University of Cambridge, is a wonderful escape for the researchers from the hustle and bustle of town life for an uninterrupted concentration on their study and research. Now-a-days, NSTU is lovingly addressed as 'The Cambridge of the Coastal Terrain'. Each member of NSTU family is trying hard to make this addressing a reality.

Academic system:

Noakhali Science and Technology University follows a semester system for its four-year undergraduate programme. A student would take 160-172 credit hours. The four-year degree will be completed in eight terms of 22 weeks each. The first 15 weeks will be engaged for lectures, lab or fieldwork with a one-week break in the middle. Weeks 16 and 17 will be used for student's preparatory leave for the examination. Examinations will be held during the next two weeks and the results declared within the remaining three.

Term 1 or January Term will begin on 2 January and end up on 4 June; Term 2 or June Term will run from 5 June to 5 November. The eight-week long vacation will remain effective from 6 November to 1 January when the teachers and students will go on vacation. For a part of the community the first seven weeks of this vacation will be employed to run an intensive Short Term when students will repeat a failed course or take a course anew to keep up with the 162 credit hours. Courses will be run in this term on a demand-and-supply basis. The number of classes per week for a course will be doubled. Exams and results will be completed in the last week. During this long vacation, admission for January Term will be finalized.

A course in a Term will be evaluated for 100 marks per credit hour. The evaluation components will be student attendance, 5%; quiz-assignment, 25%; and the term final 70%. Three to four books will be prescribed as the texts for any course although the teacher will follow one in Toto. The lecture schedule will show the length of materials to be covered in each lecture. A lecture not given due to a valid reason will be given on a weekend day to makeup. A three credit hour course have three lectures, deliberations or lab exercises per week. The duration of a lab period is twice as much of a lecture period and that for a fieldwork is four times as much. Friday and Saturday are the weekly holiday.

A number of subjects were named to be included in the inaugural list. The prominent ones are Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Computer Science & Telecommunication Engineering, Pharmacy, Fisheries and Marine Science, Microbiology, Mathematics, Food Technology and Nutrition Science, Environmental Science and Hazard Studies, English and Bachelor of Business Administration.

NSTU will be a place of equal opportunity for all students. They will choose and participate in activities to develop their cultural abilities and sportive feats. Jobs or studentships like teaching and research assistance or lab demonstration may be available for meritorious students. Initially the university will run a research centre to cover the research facilities for the departments. Adaptive research may be carried out through this centre based on some burning issues related to the coastal system.