University of Dhaka

The University of Dhaka (Bengali: ঢাকা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়, romanized: Ḍhākā Biśbôbidyālôẏ), also known as Dhaka University (DU), is a public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Established in 1921, it is the oldest active university in the country.

The University of Dhaka was founded in 1921 under the Dacca University Act 1920 of the Indian Legislative Council. The establishment of the university in Dhaka was initiated with 600 acres of land requisitioned by the British government in 1905 after a new province of East Bengal and Assam was formed with Dhaka as its capital. Part of the land requisitioned belonged to the estate of Nawab Bahadur Sir Khwaja Salimullah. It is modeled after British universities. Currently it is the largest public research university in Bangladesh, with a student body of 46,150 and a faculty of 1,992.

It has made significant contributions to the modern history of Bangladesh. After the Partition of India, it became the focal point of progressive and democratic movements in Pakistan. Its students and teachers played a central role in the rise of Bengali nationalism and the independence of Bangladesh in 1971.

Notable alumni include physicist Satyendra Nath Bose, known for Bose–Einstein statistics and the theory of Bose–Einstein condensate, Muhammad Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize and pioneer of microcredit, Muhammad Shahidullah, Natyaguru Nurul Momen, pioneer of cultural, sports & theatric activities of the university (he was both a student and later a teacher of DU), Serajul Islam Choudhury, physicist Mohammad Ataul Karim, 20th-century Bengali poet Buddhadeb Bose and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country's founding president.