Former NSU VC Hafiz Siddiqi no more
Prof Hafiz GA Siddiqi, former vice-chancellor of North South University, passed away yesterday. He was 87.
The noted academician breathed his last around 3:30pm at the United Hospital in Gulshan, Belal Ahmed, head of public relations of NSU told The Daily Star. Siddiqi was admitted to the hospital around two weeks ago for complications related to old-age.
Prof Siddiqi founded and served as the dean of NSU business school before becoming the university's pro-vice chancellor and then vice-chancellor. He remained the VC for more than a decade.
He was one of the pioneers of the private university concept and made great contributions to the sector's growth and development.
The veteran professor joined as professor emeritus at Brac University after retiring from NSU a couple of years ago.
Before joining NSU, he had worked for the Institute of Business Administration, University of Dhaka, for about 21 years in various capacities including its director.
Besides, he taught for more than seven years at two American universities.
Educated in Bangladesh, the United Kingdom and United States, Prof Siddiqi had more than 50 years' experiences as teacher, researcher, international consultant and business executive.
According to his profile on Brac's website, Prof Siddiqi obtained a PhD degree from the Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK; an MBA from Graduate School of Business, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA; a Master of Public and International Affairs from Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; and an MA (Economics) and BA (Honours in Economics) from Dhaka University.
He worked as an international consultant for different organizations around the world, including World Bank and Asian Development Bank, Manila. He advised many Bangladeshi government agencies on various aspects. Besides, he served voluntarily in several banks, business, social and cultural organisations.
He is the author and co-author of 13 books. His research articles were published in numerous national and international journals.