Emerging university in Pabna

It is learnt from The Daily Star (26 January 2009) that Pabna University of Science and Technology (PUST) is going to admit 200 students under two faculties. The subjects that will be taught are Computer Science and Engineering (CSE), Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE) and Mathematics under the faculty of Science and Engineering. The other faculty is Business Studies, with the subject Business Administration.
The subjects chosen are appreciable in respect of global demands. Perhaps this is the third university of science and technology in the northern region of Bangladesh after liberation. The main objective behind the establishment of PUST has not been mentioned in the newspaper report. Surely, there are good reasons for setting up such a technology-based university in a district town. It is also true this university can be an effective tool in the northern region for the creation of digital Bangladesh as desired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
There are two other public universities, in Rajshahi city, in addition to those three public universities in the region. What impressed me much is the name as Pabna University of Science and Technology (PUST) that was the name of the first science and technology university in north Bengal. The university was established about a decade ago in village Thengamara under the district of Bogra. The name of that university also was PUST (Pundra University of Science and Technology) and the academic activities there commenced under two similar faculties. The only difference between the two is that the Bogra-based PUST was a private university and the Pabna-based PUST is a public university. PUST at Bogra was shut down along with other seven universities by the BNP government at the end of its tenure.
PUST was established in a rural atmosphere with the objective of empowering the new generation with modern technology in cooperation with science and technology related international organizations like Commonwealth Science Council (CSC) and the Texas-USA based ICTE. Other objectives were to make available the benefits of digital technology to the people living on islands (chars) of the river Jamuna and for those living in Chalan beel passing through three districts of northern region. Due to the closure of PUST, the hopes of thousands of people of the region were nipped in the buds. Due to the ignorance of some people, closure of a technology university is just like suicide for others. PUST in Bogra is a great lesson for PUST in any other region.