Collaboration for scholarly ventures

The University of Dhaka inaugurated a grand new building for students studying pure and applied mathematics on Saturday. Named AF Mujibur Rahman Ganit Bhaban, after a mathematics genius who excelled in the subject in the early part of 20th century, the eight-storey modern academic facility was funded by a charitable organisation also named after the same mathematician. AF Mujibur Rahman has the distinction of securing the first class first position in his Masters examinations from Calcutta University in 1920. Credit goes to him for bettering the earlier record marks obtained by Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee, then vice-chancellor of the university.
Now the association of the name of this high-calibre mathematical mind with a building offering all the advanced facilities for mathematics learning at the top level will definitely prove most inspiring. In fact it was his son Rezaur Rahman, founding partner of a reputed chartered accountancy firm, who now heads the AFM Mujibur Rahman Foundation was instrumental behind this benevolent act. When he came to know that students of DU mathematics departments had space constraints in classrooms, he took the initiative to address the problem. Now what has transpired from the initiative is a most modern facility for 850 students to learn a subject considered to be the basics of all science subjects.
Rezaur Rahman has set an example for others to follow. Surely, this 270-million project has been the most outstanding his philanthropic organisation has ever undertaken. But apart from this the organisation has been involved with several other commendable jobs for promotion of mathematics. It has been expanding its area of work.
That the highest seats of learning in this country compares poorly with their counterparts in the developed countries is because of lack of a strong research base and the funds needed for developing one. In developed countries like the United States of America, collaboration between corporate houses/industrial giants and universities is the key to unravelling scientific mysteries and inventing marvellous gadgets and gismos and finding answer to the apparently incurable diseases.
Rezaur Rahman's initiative has shown that industries and corporate houses can enter into such large-scale collaborative ventures in order to give a giant push to scientific study, local technological invention through creating facilities for research and experiment. Theoretical knowledge alone is not enough, brilliant scientific minds need well-equipped laboratories to experiment and test what they conceptualise. There is a common complaint that students go abroad not to return. But few admit that they do not return because facilities are next to nothing for research here.
Quite a number of Bangladeshi scientists have made their marks as inventors and scholars in various branches of science. Almost all of them did their seminal works in the laboratory of a foreign country. This points to the fact that given enough opportunities and facilities, budding scientists here can accomplish amazing feats in the area of science and technology. Thus the argument in favour of contribution by corporate houses to research and experiments at the level of higher education becomes stronger even.