About Department of English

The Department of English was opened in 2002-2003 academic year with only 13 students in the first batch. Now the department has about 400 students. The facilities and opportunities available in the department in particular, and the university in general are remarkable. There are 11 full time faculty members in our teaching team. With spacious classrooms, a rich library, a very modern language laboratory, constant counseling by the faculty members, facilities for annual excursion, sports, debates and participating in cultural programs, the English department is running smoothly and successfully.

The aim of this department is to impart high quality education and upgrade the knowledge of both language and literature at undergraduate and graduate levels incoherence with the need of the 21st century. The curricula and the courses are designed to enable the students for coping with the present world having strong command over English. The curricula and the syllabuses have duly been approved by the UGC. Here it is relevant to mention that the syllabuses have been prepared in conformity with those of the reputed universities at home and abroad. To achieve our goal of the department we have already determined our mission and vision.

General Information & Program Description:
The Department of English of Bangladesh University is offering 3 programs, they are- a four-year BA (Hons), one year MA (Final) and 2 - year MA (Preliminary) programs. The Honors program is spread over four years in twelve semesters and each semester consists of four months. The year is divided into three semesters: Spring, Fall & Summer. Timing of Spring Semester is January-April, Summer semester is May-August and Fall Semester September-December. Besides, the faculty members of the department take GED courses of other departments. The medium of instruction in all programs is English. To redress the deficiency of the newly enrolled students, 4 non-credit courses have been incorporated in the BA (Hons) Program. The students of the department are to complete four GED courses on Governance, Economics, Business Administration & Computer Skills.
A student of BA (Hons) program will require 126 credit hours in 12 semesters to complete within four- years duration. The one year MA Final program requires completion of 36 credit hours in three semesters while two year MA Preliminary program 63 credit hours in six semesters.
The faculty members are taking classes of Basic English in 9 different departments outside English.
Activities of the department:
The department is involved mainly in different co-curricular activities. The wall magazine, ‘Dawn’ is published every semester to foster students’ creative writing. The department also brings out an annual Magazine to cultivate the students’ artistic bent of mind. The department stages an annual cultural program every winter in addition to the regular program on Shakespeare Day, Rabindra & Nazrul anniversary etc. to keep students in the main stream of cultural trend. To bridge the gap and for better interaction between students and teachers, it creates a very good impact. Orientation program for fresher’s is arranged at the very beginning of each semester. The department also arranges inter batch debate competition and in continuation of that two debate teams of department now take part in parliamentary debate competition with other team of public & private universities. Very recently they won parliamentary TV debate competition defeating their opponent Shahjalal Science & Technology public university. The department arranges yearly study tour for the students to make a change in the class room learning. Besides, we have taken initiative to hold seminar and discussion meeting at different colleges outside Dhaka under outreach program where we make publicity for our university and also arrange training for English teachers of several colleges as a cluster at our venue to establish a permanent link between the colleges of the district and BU. To increase enrollment, it plays an effective role on the department of English and other departments as well.
The department arranges seminar and workshop at regular intervals at university. It also gives much emphasis on research and carries out research on language and literature related areas. The co-curricular activities of the department and the close interaction between students and faculty members help keep the students away from terrorist, militant or any kind of untoward activity.