The Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) and Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) of Portugal have virtually signed a cooperation agreement to establish academic links between the two institutions.
At a simple ceremony held on Monday simultaneously at the two institutions, Vice-Chancellor of BUET Professor Dr Satya Prasad Majumder in Dhaka and the President of IST Professor Rogério Colaço in Lisbon signed the agreement on behalf of their respective institutions, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
On the Lisbon side of the ceremony, Bangladesh Ambassador to Portugal Tarik Ahsan, Vice-President and Director for Research & International Relations Prof. Fátima Montemor and First Secretary of Bangladesh Embassy Abdullah Al Razi were also present.
On the Dhaka side, Pro-Vice Chancellor Fátima Montemor, Deans of different Faculties of BUET, Director for Research and Innovation Centre for Science and Engineering (RISE) Professor Dr Muhammad Anisuzzaman Talukder and Registrar Professor Dr Forkan Uddin of BUET and Assistant Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh Samapan Barua attended.
This cooperation agreement will focus on the exchange of undergraduate and postgraduate students and faculty members as well as joint supervision of Master and Doctoral theses.
Besides, under this agreement there will be an opportunity of possible cooperation in the curricular development and establishment of undergraduate and postgraduate educational programmes.
Promotion of joint research activities, exchanging scientific materials, publications and information and Organization of joint research meetings and conferences are among the other targeted areas of cooperation under the signed agreement.
Professor Dr Satya Prasad Majumder, Vice-Chancellor of BUET expressed his satisfaction at signing of this cooperation agreement with a leading engineering institution of Portugal. Recalling the historical linkage between the people of two countries, he hoped that this agreement would provide opportunities for working together for mutual benefit of the two countries. He offered all possible cooperation from BUET for successful implementation of this agreement.
President of Instituto Superior Professor Rogério Colaço, in his concluding remarks, expressed his pleasure at the successful completion of the signing ceremony. Mentioning this as only a beginning, he said that his institution is ready to explore areas of cooperation under this framework.
Ambassador Tarik Ahsan in his remarks congratulated both BUET and IST, the premier engineering institutions of their respective countries on this momentous decision to tie up for a partnership.
He expressed his happiness for playing a part in facilitating the conclusion of this agreement and assured that the Embassy would be ready to extend cooperation in future also in the implementation of the agreement.
He also hoped that the interaction and cooperation between BUET and IST would significantly contribute to enrichment of knowledge and advancement of technology in Bangladesh and Portugal.
