GUWAHATI: Education Minister of Bangladesh, Dr Dipu Moni has underlined the need to enhance intellectual connectivity between India and Bangladesh.
Addressing the International Convention of Vice-Chancellors (ICVC) of universities of Bangladesh and Northeast India ay Sylhet on Saturday , she said, “Connectivity between India and Bangladesh has to be re-established and this is very essential. We are always grateful to India and the people of its north-eastern region for their help during the war of Liberation.”
Terming ICVC-2019 as an exceptional initiative, she further said “The connectivity should not only be in terms of waterways, road connectivity or airways, but it has to be in terms of connectivity of ideas of people, their minds and hearts. Unitedly we can build new intellectual powerhouse. If there is no peace, there cannot be prosperity”, she added.
The ICVCon Saturday unanimously decided to form an international education corridor and work collaboratively towards promotion of higher education, culture, brotherhood and peace.
The Convention was organised by Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST), Sylhet under the patronage of University Grant Commission, Bangladesh in association with the University of Science & Technology Meghalaya (USTM), India, according to a source in the USTM.
It was attended by more than 30 Vice Chancellors of universities, apart from Directors of institutions; top researchers from both countries. Besides Dr Dipu Moni, the convention was graced by Prof A Mannan, Chairman, UGC Bangladesh.
The Convention decided that it would be a regular affair to be held in different countries on rotational basis. It was decided that the Gauhati University would host the next ICVC while the other universities in the Northeast India will be co-organisers.
Prof Abdul Mannan said that Bangladesh looks more to the west while the North Eastern part of India is relatively unexplored in the field of education and there is an urgent need to explore this mutual benefit. ICVC is significant in the sense that it will open doors for collaboration with the North East in this direction.
Mahbubul Hoque, Chancellor of USTM said, “North East India has more geographical proximity with Bangladesh than the rest of India. As there is no geographical boundary while seeking and acquiring knowledge, so let us remove the barrier created by physical borders through extensive collaborative effort in education and conquer the hearts and minds of the people by bringing peace and progress. To my understanding, stakeholders of universities of both the regions must come together and work for mutual benefit. ICVC 2019 is a timely action in this direction. I am confident that this convention would open doors for further networking in the field of education among the ASEAN countries including Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and India’s North East in the near future”.
Sixteen Vice Chancellors of Central, State and private universities from Northeast India participated in the convention along with their Bangladeshi counterparts. ICVC has been organised with the goal of improving mutual understanding between the people of the northeastern regions of India and Bangladesh and to set a platform for bilateral communication, cooperation and collaboration in higher and tertiary levels of education.