Mehdi Musharraf Bhuiyan

The country's first ever ICT university is set to be established at Kaliakoir in Gazipur exclusively for the higher learning and research on information and communication technology.

Aimed at diversifying the future IT human resource pool in the country, the university would be located within the premise of the High Tech Park currently under construction at Gazipur and would be run and administered by Bangladesh Computer Samity (BCS).

The government and the BCS is set to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with regard to the establishment of the university in the city tomorrow (Saturday).

Initially Tk.1.0 billion was allocated for the establishment of the university during the fiscal year 2009-10. However, the actual project cost may exceed Tk. 1.5 billion, an official of the Ministry of Science and ICT said.

"A 5-acre land would be allocated at the site of the ongoing High Tech Park project for setting up the university," the ministry official said, adding that the South Korean corporate giant Samsung is entirely funding the project.

Declining to give any specific timeframe for the establishment of the university, the relevant authorities said that the work of the project would start at the earliest once the MoU is signed.

When asked about its possible curriculum and courses, President of BCS Mostafa Jobbar said, "The university would produce skilled IT professionals keeping in mind domestic and international IT market trend".