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This article is about the university in Dhaka, Bangladesh. For the university in Chicago, see East-West University.

East West University (Bengali: ইস্টওয়েস্ট বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়) or EWU is a private university located in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. It was established in 1996 by the Private University Act, 1992. Built around a centralized campus in Mohakhali, the university features a range of academic and extra-curricular facilities - from a growing library visited by 2,200 users a day to 16 students clubs. Founded by eminent academic personality Dr. Mohammed Farashuddin, EWU offers a number of scholarship schemes, regular seminars that include discussions on subjects significant to national development, and a limited but diverse range of curriculum.

History

During the early 90's Government of Bangladesh along with the civil society felt that existing public universities are not sufficient to meet the constantly increasing high demand of higher education in Bangladesh. Moreover, to maintain the quality education most of the reputed public universities kept themselves extremely selective and each year a large number of student failed to get admitted into the higher educational institutions. All those issues leaded them to permit private sectors to establish universities. On 9 August, 1992 The Private University Act (Act 34) 1992 was passed and with in the next five years a good number of private universities were established and started to perform successfully and East West University is one of them.

East West University is established in 1996 as a non-profitable organization. This 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, prominent economist and former governor of Bangladesh Bank. University was launched in September 1996 with 6 faculty members and 20 students in three programs, BBA, BSc in Computer Science and BSS in English at the present campus of 45, Mohakhali Commercial Area, Dhaka. Currently university maintains a good number of slightly over six thousands students with a centralized campus in Mohakhali though it has a plan to shift to its permanent campus by 2009 which is now under-construction and located in Aftab Nagar near Banosri.

Campus

East West University maintains a centralized campus consisting of six multi-storied buildings located at the heart of Mohakhali, one of the busiest commercial spot of Dhaka.

• Administrative Building (ADMN): Offices of different administrative personnels including registrar are located in this building. ADMN building is mainly used for class room purpose but some of the departments are also situated here including Department of Economics and Department of Social Science. University Auditorium is also located in this building on the 10th floor.
• Foundation Building (FNDN): Offices of the top level management including Board President, Vice Chancellor and Pro Vice Chancellor are located in this building. This building is used for Library and Laboratory purpose mainly. EWU library is located on 2nd, 3rd and 4th floor. Different engineering and IT laboratories including Electronics Lab, Digital Lab, Telecommunication Lab, Physics Lab and four Computer Labs are situated in this building. University's one of the oldest department, Department of Computer Science and Engineering is also located in this building on the 5th floor.
• Academic Building (ACAD): Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering and Department of Applied Physics and Communication Engineering are located in this building. University cafe, MBA office, Account Section, VLSI Laboratory and MBA Computer Lab are situated on different floors of this building.
• DDC Building (DDC): A new and small building mainly used for seminars. Department of Pharmacy and special conference rooms are located in this building.
• Research Building (Res’rh): One of the oldest buildings of EWU mainly used for department office, Pharmacy Lab, Computer Lab and Career Counseling Centre. Department of English is located in this building.
• Graduate Building (GRAD): Oldest building of EUW. University's largest department, Department of Business Administration was located in this building though it has been shifted and this building is declared abandon and waiting for reconstruction.

Academics

Structure

East West University is organized into three faculties. Each of the faculty is again divided into different departments. A Dean is the head of each faculty while departments are headed by the respective department Chairpersons. Department of Business Administration is the largest and one of the oldest departments of the university. Department of Computer Science and Engineering (initially established as the Department of Computer Science) and Department of English are other two founding departments performing since 1996. Social Science department is the only department that does not offer any degree program rather it works as a supportive department for other existing degree programs.

Facilities and Services

Library

East West University has a library covering four floors of the Foundation Building and approximately ten thousand five hundred square feet in area. All the floors have specialty in terms of study space, special corner, maps and journal area, photocopy corner, database search corner, user friendly newspaper display section and convenient communication systems. The Library has a pigeonhole area with a capacity of supporting 450 users at a time and every day around 2,200 users visit this library. Library contains 15,704 copy books, subscription of 135 international and national journals (hardcopy), 3,293 online journals on its database, subscription of 16 national daily newspapers and around 1,300 CD-ROMs and audio cassettes.

Laboratories

East West University provides well equipped laboratories for its engineering and science courses which includes Digital Lab, Telecommunication Lab, Networking Lab, Electronic Lab, Electrical Machine Lab, VLSI Lab, Pharmacy Lab, Physics Lab and Chemistry Lab. Besides, university provides seven well configured computer laboratories for all of its students.

Financial Supports

Merit Scholarships

East West University provides a wide range of scholarship starting from full funding to partial tuition weavers. Each semester top 10% students of each batch having a CGPA of 3.97 or above are awarded EWU Merit Scholarships which worth 90,000 BDT in undergraduate level and 75,000 BDT in postgraduate level. All other students from the Dean's List are also eligible to receive Medha Lalon Fund Scholarship ranging from 35,000 BDT to 25,000 BDT. Besides, there are 28 directorial scholarships (25,20,000 BDT) are available each year for the meritorious students with exceptional case.

Financial Aid

Each semester university provides a large number of Financial Aids. Student facing financial difficulties (with a CGPA of 2.5 and above) can apply with proper evidence only once a year for this support. It varies from 18,000 BDT to 35,000 BDT. Apart from this support, EWU provides 50% tuition weaver for any one of a sibling pair studying simultaneously in the university which worth around 45,000 BDT per year. Besides, it maintains a low tuition fees rate (BDT 3,000 per credit) compare to other leading private universities in Bangladesh.

Collaboration and Accreditation

East West University is accredited with the University Grant Commission (UGC), Bangladesh. All of its degrees and courses are approved by the UGC. Besides, it has strong collaborations with some North American and European universities for student exchange program and credit transfer purpose. Those universities are,

• Brandeis University, USA.
• Pace University, USA.
• Suffolk University, USA.
• Southern Illinois University, USA.
• University of Bedfordshire, UK.
• University of Fukui, Japan.

Student Life

Student Activities

East West University has 16 clubs in different activity fields. These clubs are taking part in different competitions national and international wide and also organizing national level events. EWU Debating Club won the championship title in 18th Prime Bank - NDDC National Debate Championship 2006 (Inter University - Bangla) and became runner's up in the same event's English debate. EWU Programming club became 4th in ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest held at Coimbatore, India and 12th at Kanpur, India in 2006. Other clubs are also taking part in different national level events.

EWU Club List

• Environmental and Social Club
• Business Club
• Financial Analysis & Research Club
• Debating Club
• Cine and Photography Club
• Computer Club
• Cultural Club
• Sports Club
• MBA Club
• English Conversation Club
• Pharmacy Club
• Natural Science Club
• Rotaract Club of East West University
• EWU Electronics Club
• Programming Club
• The English Poetry and Drama Club

Campus Life

Reference

1. Source: University Administration Office, 1st floor, ADMN Building, East West University.
2. Private University Act, 1992
3. Profile from Boston University Page as an Alumni
4. EWU Newsletter, Vol. VI, ISSUE III, Fall 2006, pp-7
5. EWU Newsletter, Vol. VI, ISSUE III, Fall 2006, pp-8

External links

• East West University Homepage

• Private universities in Bangladesh
• Educational institutions established in 1996