DU Correspondent

Newly appointed Dhaka University Vice Chancellor Niaz Uddin Khan says the university will return to full-scale academic activities within the next week.

“My team expects to resume full-scale activities within a week,” he said. “We have been continuously speaking to stakeholders since taking over.”

“We are trying to restart the university with consensus from everyone. This means, restoring everything from residence halls to academic activities is our first priority.

Khan’s remarks came while speaking to reporters at his office on Wednesday.

In response to a question, he said: “We are not waiting for the situation to become 100 percent perfect. We will start with whatever we can do. I have never seen such a situation in my memory.”

“There is a deadlock in many parts of the university. I am trying to speak to all quarters. This is a university for all. I feel this very sincerely. My team isn’t fully operational yet. I am waiting for their cooperation.”

The students have faced disruptions to their educational environment for a long time and they also have some reasonable suggestions, in some cases referring to the relationship between students and teachers and in other cases to do with infrastructural issues, he said.

The new vice chancellor wants to prioritise the issues that everyone is discussing.

Khan, a professor in the Department of Development Studies, was appointed as the university’s 30th vice chancellor on Tuesday. He started work that afternoon.