Leadership is a skill that can only be earned and students must become true followers to turn into leaders, said Brac University (BracU) President and Vice-Chancellor (VC) Professor Vincent Chang recently.
Urging students to be true to themselves, kind and curious about the world, he recommended starting preparations right away to weather future job markets which would be competitive and like nothing ever seen before.
Some 60 percent of jobs will cease to exist within the next two decades, Professor Vincent told a series of programs welcoming students who enrolled in Summer 2019.
In this connection, Pro-VC Professor Mohammad Tamim said that the world was changing very fast and surviving depended on competencies, including critical thinking and communication and leadership skills.
The quality gap between private and public university is decreasing day by day, he said, adding that BracU was different for not only focusing on subjective knowledge but also co-curricular education, independent thinking and practicing empathy.
Professor Vincent announced his aim of putting BracU on the world map for the first time within the next four years. He expressed hope that one day BracU would make Bangladesh proud while defining graduates.
The programs for the Summer 2019 batch included an orientation for students and parents and a First Year Advising Team (FYAT) program at BracU’s Mohakhali campus.
The orientation for students on 5 May started with students singing “Aguner poroshmoni” and “Mora jhonjhar moto uddam”.
A video message of BRAC Founder and Chairman BracU Board of Trustees Sir Fazle Hasan Abed KCMG was screened.
Registrar Lt Col Md Foyzul Islam (retd) gave the concluding speech with a brief on the university’s administration and student discipline.
Residential Campus Superintendent Rehan Ahmed, BRAC Institute of Languages (BIL) Academic Coordinator and Senior Lecturer Liza Reshmin and former student of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering Azizul Haque Anonto also addressed the programme.
At the orientation for parents on 6 May, BIL Director Lady Syeda Sarwat Abed requested parents to be appreciative of their children irrespective of their achievements.
Informing of the categories under which BracU awarded scholarships while moderating the event, Relationship Management Office Head Ismat Shereen said the total amount given out last year was over BDT 13 crore.
Office of Academic Advising (OAA) Director and Assistant Professor of Brac Business School Dilara Afroz Khan and Psychosocial Counselor and Lecturer Shami Suhrid and Rehan Ahmed spoke at the event.
During the FYAT programme was organised by the OAA on 7 May and moderated by Dilara Afroz Khan.
In it, the registrar talked about the academic matters, performance evaluation, grading system, test, exam, quiz, assignment, attendance, retake and repeat policy and safety and security advisories.
BIL Lecturer Farina Haque gave a presentation on the importance of learning a language, saying that English skills accounted for 25 percent of a student’s grade.
Ismat Shereen, Ayesha Abed, University Librarian Hasina Afroz, Psychosocial Counselor and Lecturer Ayesha Seddiqa and BIL Lecturer Md Mamunur Rashid also spoke.