Education Secretary Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury said the education ministry issued a circular for his appointment on Tuesday.
Prof Alam will be the VC for the next four years.
The post fell vacant after the death of former Vice Chancellor of Khondakar Ashraf Hossain, a renowned Bengali poet and Professor of English literature, on Jun 16.
Prof Alam told bdnews24.com he had joined the university’s Dhaka office on Tuesday.
He is a former Chairperson of the Department of English at the University of Chittagong. Prof Alam also held the post of the Dean of Arts and Humanities as well as Professor and Head of the Department of English and Humanities at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh.
He was the founding Chairman of the English department at Chittagong’s private Premiere University.
Prof Alam has more than 30 books to his credit – fiction, poetry, and non-fiction, and books on the teaching of English.