Jahangirnagar University has seen a rapid expansion in the number of departments and institutes, leading to a surge in student enrollment. However, this growth has not been matched by a corresponding increase in classrooms or teaching staff. Consequently, departments like Law and Justice, the Institute of Comparative Literature and Culture, and the Faculty of Business Studies are grappling with persistent infrastructure and faculty crises, forcing students to rely on borrowed classrooms or auditoriums, while departments face significant shortages of permanent lecturers.
The Department of Law and Justice, established 15 years ago, currently has 370 students across six batches but possesses no dedicated classrooms. Similarly, the Institute of Comparative Literature and Culture, which opened eight years ago, has 245 students across seven batches and only two classrooms. In contrast, the older Faculty of Business Studies, which houses four departments and 1,543 students, has only 12 classrooms at its disposal.
Although the university is currently implementing a development project worth 1.445 billion BDT, which includes new dormitories, an administrative building, and several academic blocks, none of these projects have allocated space for the affected departments. Students express frustration, noting that successive vice-chancellors have promised to resolve these issues, yet these assurances have failed to materialize into tangible improvements.
The Law and Justice department, launched in 2011, operates out of the Social Science building without a dedicated office for its dean or sufficient space for students. Osman Sardar, a master’s student in the 50th batch, noted that classes are frequently interrupted when students from other departments arrive to claim their assigned rooms. Furthermore, the department faces a severe staffing crisis; of its 12 permanent faculty members, eight are currently on study leave, with another scheduled to depart on August 23. This reliance on guest lecturers, who often teach three-hour sessions and struggle to maintain consistent schedules, has severely disrupted the academic curriculum.
Professor Md. Rabiul Islam, Dean of the Faculty of Law, emphasized that the current environment is unsuitable for legal education, noting the lack of essential facilities such as a moot court for practical training. Meanwhile, the Institute of Comparative Literature and Culture has seen its student population grow from 25 in its first batch to 245 today. With only six permanent teachers and two classrooms, the institute is forced to borrow laboratory space from the Zoology department, located nearly a kilometer away. Fourth-year student Mehedi Hasan highlighted the logistical burden, stating that the constant movement between distant locations results in significant time loss and hardship.
The Faculty of Business Studies, which includes the departments of Marketing, Finance and Banking, Management Studies, and Accounting and Information Systems, faces similar constraints. With 1,543 students across 28 batches, the faculty lacks seminar rooms, common rooms, and sufficient computer labs. Faculty shortages are also acute; in the Accounting and Information Systems department, only five of the 12 teachers are currently active, while seven are on study leave. Similarly, three of the 12 Finance teachers and two of the 12 Management Studies teachers are on leave.
Professor Abu Saif Md. Muntakimul Bari, Dean of the Faculty of Business Studies, stated that the departments are still operating in the university’s original buildings and that the massive development project failed to include a new building for their faculty. Engineer Md. Nasir Uddin, director of the development project, explained that the current project could not address every need, as the specific requirements for these departments were not included in the original Development Project Proposal (DPP).
Addressing the issue of faculty on leave, Pro-Vice Chancellor (Education) Professor Shamsul Alam acknowledged the pressure on departments when multiple teachers go on leave simultaneously. He noted that while the university cannot deny scholarships for higher studies, the administration plans to discuss the matter to find a better balance. Vice-Chancellor Professor Mohammad Kamrul আহসান stated that while temporary measures like relocating classes to lecture theaters are currently in place, they are not a permanent solution. He pledged to prepare a new development plan and seek government funding to construct dedicated permanent buildings for these departments.