Bangladesh’s socioeconomic development deserves the world’s attention and Brac University has accordingly formulated and adopted “BracU 2.0” to initiate a new beginning, said the university President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Vincent Chang.
BracU 2.0 holds promises of opening a new horizon of opportunities for students and faculty members at Brac University (BracU), such as international internship, research funding, student exchange and other collaborations, he said.
Professor Chang was sharing his thoughts at the fourth International Agriculture Innovation Conference (IAIC) and at the fourth World Technology Universities Congress (WTUN).
The WTUN took place at the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology from 2 to 4 October 2019 and IAIC at the University of Oulu in Finland from 8 to 9 August 2019.
Delivering presentations at the events, Professor Chang pointed out that BracU’s sister organisation BRAC was the world’s largest non-governmental development organisation with a legacy of serving 135 million people across the world, including Rohingya refugees.
But BracU, like other universities of Bangladesh, was nowhere on the map and lagged way behind when it came to international recognition of higher education, he lamented.
He said these inconsistencies catalysed him into renovating BracU’s vision and mission, to revamp its aspirations to turn into an international university.
The new vision is to make BracU stand out as a true global institution and flagship university bringing pride for Bangladesh while the mission is to foster knowledge creation, uphold human values and promote sustainable development.
He concluded his talk with the words of Persian poet Omar Khayyam:
“With them the seed of wisdom did I sow,
And with my own hands labored it grow;
And this was all the harvest that I reaped–
I came like water, and like wind I go.”
Professor Chang’s aspirations have also garnered appreciation from international entities such as Global Business School Network, the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens and Harvard University.