PM opens first textile university

Hasina hopes Bangladesh Textile University will go a long way in developing the country's textile sector. FULL STORY

bdnews24.com
Published : 15 March 2011, 02:59 AM
Updated : 15 March 2011, 02:59 AM
Dhaka, Mar 15 (bdnews24.com) β€” Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has inaugurated the country's first-ever textile university, 'Bangladesh Textile University', in the city's Tejgaon area.
"A new era in the field of textile technology and engineering has begun with the inauguration of the Bangladesh Textile University (BTU)," she told the inauguration ceremony on Tuesday.
An official release said on Monday the Bangladesh Textile University Act-2010 was passed in parliament on Sept 22 last year and it came into effect on Dec 22.
Meanwhile, 270 students have taken admission to six departments of three faculties of the new university under its 2010-'11 academic session.
The classes were due to begin on Tuesday.
The prime minister said the textile sector was one of the most potential industrial sectors in the country and it deserved more importance.
"The country's industrial investment, employment, export and the growth of revenue collection are directly dependent on development of the sector."
She hoped the country's first textile university will play an important role in development of the textile sector. "The demand of life-oriented or technical knowledge-based jobs is increasing day by day."
Hasina also hoped that the university will play a vital role in development of weaving industry.
The Weaving School, set up in 1921, was turned into a textile institute in 1950. It has been ultimately upgraded to the textile university, raising the number of the country's public universities to 34.
Bangladesh has recently been ranked by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as the fourth largest exporter of apparels with a 3 percent share of the global market. China, European Union and Turkey are the top three largest exporters.
The prime minister said Bangladesh earned US$ 11 billion by exporting garments, including knits and woven, in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, which is 41 percent more than that of the same period of the last fiscal.
"There has been a 27-percent growth in revenue collection in the first half of the current fiscal," she said adding that the government had taken various measures to explore new global markets for increased exports.
Hasina said the technical education system had been modernised and a move is there to set up a technical school in each upazila.
Chaired by education minister Nurul Islam Nahid, the inaugural ceremony was addressed, among others, by University Grant Commission (UGC) chairman professor Nazrul Islam, BTU vice-chancellor Nitai Chandra Sutradhar and Dhaka-11 Awami League MP Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal.
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