2nd Industry Advisory Board Meeting

MEETING MINUTES OF THE SECOND INDUSTRY ADVISORY BOARD MEETING
FEBRUARY 23, 2019, SYNDICATE HALL, NSU

The Second Industry Advisory Board Meeting organized by Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, North South University was held on 23th February, 2019 at Syndicate Hall, NSU.

1. Attendees

1.1 Industry Advisory Board members

  • Md. Kabir Ahmed Bhuiyan, President of IEB and Ex-Chief Engineer, PWD
  • Engr. Faizur Rahman Khan, Managing Director, Building Technology & Ideas Ltd (BTI)
  • Engr. Dr. Md. Abdullah Al Mamun, SE (RHD) and Director of BRRL
  • Abu Saleh Khan, Deputy Ex. Director, IWM, Bangladesh
  • MD Tajul Islam, BSRM Steels Ltd.

1.2 North South University Officials

  • Professor Atiqul Islam, Vice Chancellor, NSU
  • Professor Gias Uddin Ahsan, Pro Vice Chancellor, NSU
  • Professor Arshad M Chowdhury, Dean, School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, NSU

1.3 Faculties of DCEE

  • Professor Dr. Md. Sirajul Islam, Professor, DCEE, NSU
  • Professor Dr. Javed Bari, Professor, DCEE, NSU
  • Professor Dr. Mohammad Nazmul Islam, Professor & Chair, DCEE, NSU
  • Professor Brigadier General (rtd) Dr. Habibur Rahman Kamal, ndc, psc
  • Dr. Nazmun Nahar, Professor, DCEE, NSU
  • Dr. Md. Shoaib Chowdhury, Associate Professor, DCEE, NSU
  • Dr. Shama E. Haque, AssociateProfessor, DCEE, NSU
  • Dr. Minhaz Shahriar, Assistant Professor, DCEE, NSU
  • Mr. Md. Tousif Rahman, Lecturer, DCEE, NSU
  • Mr MD Tareq Hossain Khondoker, Lecturer, DCEE, NSU

2. Professor Dr. Atique Islam, VC, NSU

  • Welcomed everyone
  • Shared his academic experience and gave a brief idea about NSU activities
  • Suggested IAB meeting should be take place three times in a year
  • Courses should be designed according to the industry and IAB will help to create a bridge between academic institution and industry

3. Discussions

3.1 Dean, SEPS and Chair, DCEE

The Dean of SEPS welcomed all participants and called the meeting into order at 11.30 am. The meeting started with self-introduction of the participants. After the self-introduction, Chair of DCEE briefly presented the Department’s current status. His presentations included:

  • Mission and Vision statements
  • Students, Faculty Members and Laboratories
  • Research projects
  • Seminars and Conferences
  • Extra-curricular activities
  • BAETE accreditation

After the presentation, the Dean explained the role of the Industry Advisory Board and its importance. Both the Dean and the Chair thanked the IAB members for their participation in the meeting and their continuous support by attaching themselves to DCEE.

Then the discussions started. The following sections provide the gist of the statements made by the various IAB members according to the order they spoke.

3.2 Dr. Md. Abdullah Al Mamun

  • The degree curriculum should be designed according to the industry and national demand.
  • Build the graduate according to the nation’s Vision 2020/2030/2040
  • He advised to introduce 5 different undergraduate course emphases on 5 key engineering sectors.
  • Introduce Masters level program
  • Students should solve practical problems in the context of Bangladesh
  • He also suggested that, students should involve with Local Engineering body i,e IEB rather than ASCE.
  • DCEE can introduce mentoring program and lifelong learning programs.

3.3 Engr. Faizur Rahman Khan

  • His company is ready to welcomed DCEE students doing internships and capstone projects
  • A new course named ”Engineering inspiration” can be introduced like BUET.
  • The degree curriculum should put emphasis on Business and Public Interaction.
  • The degree named should be BS in Civil engineering rather than BSCEE

3.4 Md. Kabir Ahmed Bhuiyan

  • He expressed his concerned about the Department Name. Suggested that, if the name is Civil and Environmental then there should be more environmental core courses.
  • Semester should be 6 month long rather than 4months
  • IAB meeting can be hold twice in a year
  • CEE 463 course could include 4 manuals documented by PWD (with the help of JICA)
  • An Accounting course can be introduced.

3.5 Abu Saleh Khan

  • A 5 year plan based on the industry can be carried out.
  • Faculty of DCEE can involve themselves with industry to analysis and meet the future demand.

3.6 Md Tajul islam

  • Certified engineering software course should be introduced for DCEE students and others.
  • Project management course need to introduced as well
  • Students should learn the engineering code and standards properly
  • PGD course can be introduced

3.7 Professor Brig Gen Habibur Rahman Kamal

  • Master’s course will be introduced but not possible to introduced in every specialized field

3.8 Professor Dr. Md. Shoaib Chowdhury

  • Field visit should be introduced in CEE 100

3.9 Professor Dr. Javed Bari

  • DCEE already redesigned the curriculum and introduce more elective courses

4. Prof. Dr. G.U. Ahsan, Pro VC, NSU

The Pro-Vice Chancellor of NSU thanked the IAB members for their association with the Department. He stressed the need to have an Industry Advisory Board for all academic departments and lauded the DCEE for its activities with the industry leaders.

The Pro-VC also directed the chair of DCEE to take note of all comments and suggestions made by the IAB members in the meeting. He mentioned that the NSU administration will implement the suggestions at the earliest.

The Pro-VC also suggested developinga skill-based 5 year-long professional program that will cater to the needs of certain industries.

Finally the Chair, DCEE and the Dean, SEPS thanked all the attendees of the meeting and invited them to lunch.