East West University

East West University (Bengali: ইস্টওয়েস্ট বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়) (EWU) is a private university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It was established in 1996 by the Private University Act, 1992.^[1] Its own campus is in Jahrul Islam City, Aftabnagar.

In 2007, Webometrics ranked EWU third among all universities of Bangladesh (first among private universities in Bangladesh) and 64th in the Indian subcontinent in their World Universities Ranking^[2][3] based on web visibility of electronic publication, scientific results and international activities.^[4]

History

Dr. Mohammed Farashuddin, President of the Board of Trustees and Founder Vice Chancellor, East West University

The culture of private universities in Bangladesh started in the early 1990s. During that period, the government felt that the existing public universities were not sufficient to meet the demand for tertiary education in the country. Moreover, to maintain their quality of education, most of the public universities in Bangladesh kept themselves selective and as a result each year a large number of students failed to get admitted into higher educational institutions.

These issues led the government to permit the establishment of private universities, and on 9 August 1992, the Private University Act (Act 34) 1992 was passed.

East West University was established in 1996 as a non-profit organization. The university is the first major project of the Progoti Foundation for Education and Development (PFED), a non-profit, non-political, charitable organization maintained by a group of academics, business leaders, professionals and education enthusiasts led by Dr. Mohammed Farashuddin, economist and former governor of Bangladesh Bank.

BBA, BSc in Computer Science and BA in English at the previous campus at 45, Mohakhali Commercial Area, Dhaka. The university has 6000 students, in a campus in Aftab Nagar near Banosri.^[5]

Campus

In May 2012 the university shifted to new buildings on a plot of about 8 bighas(2.23 acre) at Aftabnagar near Banasree and Bangladesh Television. It has a floor space of about 450,000 square feet.

Academics

Structure

East West University has three faculties. Each faculty has departments. A Dean is the head of each faculty, while departments are headed by Chairpersons. The Department of Business Administration is the largest and one of the oldest departments of the university. The Department of Computer Science and Engineering (established as the Department of Computer Science) and the Department of English are the two other founding departments.

Academic Structure

Academic Terms

EWU is modeled on the North American Open Credit system. It maintains tri-semester (term) year with the exception of the Department of Pharmacy which maintains a bi-semester year. EWU semesters are as follow:^[7]

• Spring: January - April (starting on the second Sunday of January)
• Summer: May - August (starting on the second Sunday of May)
• Fall: September - December (starting on the second Sunday of September)

Degrees and Awards

EWU offers Bachelor of Arts (BA) for English graduate, Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) for Business graduate and Bachelor of Social Science (BSS) for Economics graduate. There are also degrees in both Business and Economics together in the form of double major. The university offers Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) for Engineering (e.g. Computer Science) for Science graduate, Bachelor of Pharmacy (B.Phrm) for Pharmacy graduate, Bachelor of Science in Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology and Bachelor of Science in Applied Statistics.^[8]

The B.Sc. in EEE program has been granted accreditation from the Board of Accreditation for Engineering & Technical Education (BAETE). At the post-graduate level EWU offers Master of Business Administration (MBA) for business, Master of Arts (MA) for humanities and Master of Science (MS) for Science and Engineering, Master of Pharmacy (M.Phrm) for Pharmacy. EWU's B.Phrm and M.Phrm programs are accredited by the Pharmacy Counsel of Bangladesh.

Most EWU degrees, especially business and engineering degrees, are transferable to North American, European and Australasian universities where formal collaboration exists with them.^[9][10]

EWU graduates are evaluated on Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) on a scale of 0 to 4 points. In addition, the university classifies students into three classes based on their earned CGPA.^[11] These are as follow:

• First Class - CGPA 3.00 and above
• Second Class - CGPA 2.50 to 2.99
• Third Class - CGPA 2.00 to 2.49

The university provides the following awards^[12] to its outstanding students.

• Gold Medal: Chancellor of the University, the President of the People's Republic of Bangladesh awards a Gold Medal to each of the students having a CGPA of 3.97 or above on the day of convocation.
• Summa Cum Laude: Each undergraduate student with a CGPA of 3.90 or above is awarded Summa Cum Laude by the university and declared by the convocation Marshall on the convocation day.
• Magna Cum Laude: Each undergraduate student with a CGPA of 3.75 or above is awarded Magna Cum Laude by the university and declared by the convocation Marshall on the convocation day.

Facilities and Services

The readers area in the library

Academic building of EWU

Library

East West University has a library covering about 11000 sq ft. in the new campus with maps and journal area, and has a photocopy corner, database search corner, and newspaper display section. Each day around 2,200 users visit the library. The library contains 21,700 books, a subscription to 135 international and national journals (hardcopy), 3,300 online journals on its database, subscription to 16 national daily newspapers and around 1,500 CD-ROMs and audio cassettes.^[13]

Laboratories

There are laboratories for engineering and science disciplines, and seven computer laboratories with a local network of 533 PCs and personal VSAT services.^[14] Universities laboratories are shared as follow:^[15]

• Computer Communications Laboratories, shared by all departments,
• Digital Systems Laboratory, shared by the engineering departments,
• Electronics Laboratory, shared by the engineering departments,.
• Electrical Circuits and Machine Laboratory, used by the EEE department,
• Network Laboratory, shared by department of CSE and APCE,
• Pharmacy Laboratory, used by department of Pharmacy,
• Physics Laboratory, used by all the science and engineering departments,
• Telecommunication Laboratory, used by the APCE department,
• VLSI Laboratory, shared by CSE and EEE departments,
• Software Engendering Laboratory, shared by only CSE and departments.

Financial Support

Merit Scholarships

East West University provides scholarships starting from full funding to partial tuition waivers. Each semester the top 10% students of each batch having a CGPA of 3.97 or above are awarded EWU Merit Scholarships which are worth 90,000 BDT at the undergraduate level and 75,000 BDT at the postgraduate level. All other students from the Dean's List are also eligible to receive Medha Lalon Fund Scholarship ranging from 500,000 BDT to 25,000 BDT. Besides, there are 28 directorial scholarships (25,000-20,000 BDT) are available each year for the meritorious students with exceptional case.

Financial Aid

Each semester the university provides financial aid. Students facing financial difficulties (with a CGPA of 3.7 and above, those students who complete at least 30 credits last three semester) can apply once a year for support. It varies from 18,000 BDT to 35,000 BDT. EWU provides 50% tuition waiver for any one of a sibling pair studying simultaneously in the university which is worth around 45,000 BDT per year. It maintains a low tuition fees rate (BDT 3,800 per credit) compared to other leading private universities in Bangladesh.

Research

East West University has a resource Center for Research and Training (EWUCRT). The center creates knowledge through academic and applied research and disseminate knowledge through training and publication. CRT operates through a Research Committee composed of representatives from the Board, Deans and Chairs of the Academic Department. Link of EWUCRT publication is http://www.ewubd.edu/ewu/showDocument.php?documentid=1118.

CRT publishes the EWU Journal, a bi-annual publication of research papers. CRT publishes working papers, occasional papers and Annual Research Abstracts to publicize and record the academic contributions of EWU. Faculty members and senior students of the university produce academic papers each year and publish them in journals and conference proceedings.

In addition, CRT works with the government and private institutions at national and international levels to facilitate academic exchanges.

In 2002 EWU organized International Conference on Computer and Information Technology which is a series of Computer Science and Information Technology based conference hosted in Bangladesh since 1997 by a university each year.^[16] EWU is a member of Trade Knowledge Network,^[17] a collaboration of research institutions in developed and developing countries located in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas^[18] and also active in the South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economists (SANDEE).^[19] Dr A.K. Enamul Haque, Professor of Economics (currently he is Professor at UIU)^[20] is the currently member of the Management and Advisory Committee of SANDEE.^[21] In 2006, EWU faculty members had 39 appearances in international journals and conferences.^[22] Besides these, University regularly provide financial support through a faculty research program to promote research culture in the campus.^[23]

Now, ex-EWU students are working as researchers or doing their higher studies on research in universities and research institutes.

Student Clubs

Concert arranged by EWU Debating Club

Students take part in competitions and exhibitions, from cultural and debating activities to intellectual programming and software developing.

East West University Club for Performing Arts(ECPA)

The East West University Club for Performing Arts has organizing big events at the university premises and outside. ECPA members pnclude musicians, singers, reciters, dancers and organizers. Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/ewu.ecpa

Debating Club(EWUDC)

The EWU Debating Club participates in World Universities Debating Championship and United Asian Debating Championships and maintains 146th world rank according to World Debate website.^[24] EWU Debating Club won the championship title in the 18th Prime Bank - NDDC National Debate Championship 2006 (Inter University - Bangla) and became runner-up in the same event's English debate.^[25][26] In 2007 they became runners up in the first UU Inter University Debating Championship (Bengali IV).^[27]

EWU Computer Programming Club (EWUCoPC)

In 2008, a team from the university, named Dreams of Twilight, qualified for the ACM ICPC (International Collegiate Programming Contest) World Finals that was hosted by University of Alberta, Canada. 100 universities from all over the world qualified for the event. A total of 9000 teams competed for the ticket to the final event.^[28]

EWU Programming club became fourth in ACM ICPC held at Coimbatore, India and 12th at Kanpur, India in 2006. Other clubs are also taking part in national-level events.

Students on new campus ground

Students on campus

Club List

• East West University Club for Performing Arts (ECPA)
• Creative Marketing Club (CMC)
• Environmental and Social Club
• Business Club (EWUBC)
• Financial Analysis & Research Club
• Debating Club (EWUDC)
• Photography Club (EWUPC)
• Computer Club
• Sports Club
• MBA Club
• English Conversation Club
• Pharmacy Club
• EWU Natural Science Club
• EWU Computer Programming Club (EWUCoPC)
• Rotaract Club of East West University (EWURC)
• EWU Electronics Club
• Telecommunication club (EWUTC)
• EWU Agro Industrialization Club

Notes and references

External links

• Official website