National University has signed separate memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with Bangla Academy, Press Institute Bangladesh (PIB), and The University Press Limited (UPL) to expand academic, research, and translation-based publishing opportunities for its students.

The agreements were formalised through three signing events held across the capital yesterday (16 September).

Vice-Chancellor of National University Professor Dr ASM Amanullah and Director General of Bangla Academy Professor Mohammad Azam signed the first agreement at the academy’s conference hall at noon.

Earlier in the day, Amanullah signed another agreement with UPL Managing Director Mahrukh Mohiuddin at the publisher’s office at RH Home Centre in the capital’s Farmgate. He later signed the third MoU with PIB Director General Farooq Wasif at the PIB office on Circuit House Road.

Under the agreements, opportunities to publish academic and research work by National University faculty members and researchers in book form will expand. The collaboration also aims to develop new textbooks and research materials by drawing on Bangla Academy’s literary and research publishing expertise, PIB’s media and journalism publishing resources, and UPL’s experience in international-standard academic publishing.

The initiative aims to create a conducive ecosystem for research, translation, knowledge exchange, and academic publication. It will make reliable study materials accessible to a wide range of students while enabling teachers to produce high-quality intellectual output.

Highlighting the importance of the initiative, Amanullah said: “Although our university has about 4,000 courses in various subjects, there is an extreme shortage of quality basic textbooks. It is difficult to find even 10 good basic textbooks. If one textbook is published, 4,000 books must be published. The university has not developed its own specific pedagogy or teaching methodology.”

He added: “There are now hundreds of low-quality guide books in the market. As a result, students are being deprived of the basic textbooks necessary to acquire real knowledge. To change this situation, the National University itself has taken the initiative to produce quality basic textbooks.”

Amanullah noted that institutional quality is not defined by classroom instruction alone but also by research and knowledge-based publishing. “This collaboration with Bangla Academy, PIB, and UPL will make our initiative more effective and sustainable,” he said.

Acting Director of Publications and Marketing at National University, Dr Faruk Ahmed attended the signing ceremonies alongside departmental officials.