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The University of Dhaka (also known as Dhaka University, or abbreviated as DU) is a public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is the oldest university in Bangladesh. The university opened its doors to students on July 1st 1921. Currently it is the largest public research university in Bangladesh, with a student body of 46,150 and a faculty of 1,992.
Nawab Bahadur Sir Khwaja Salimullah, who played a pioneering role in establishing the university in Dhaka, donated 600 acres of land from his estate for this purpose.
It has made significant contributions to the modern history of Bangladesh. After the Partition of India, it became the focal point of progressive and democratic movements in Pakistan. Its students and teachers played a central role in the rise of Bengali nationalism and the independence of Bangladesh in 1971.
Notable alumni include Muhammad Yunus (winner 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, pioneer of microcredit), Natyaguru Nurul Momen (pioneer literature, theatre & cultural doyen; who was both an early student and teacher of DU), Serajul Islam Choudhury (the country's leading public intellectual and writer), Mohammad Ataul Karim (physicist), Abul Fateh (one of the founding fathers of South Asian diplomacy), Buddhadeb Bose (20th-century Bengali poet), Lotay Tshering (prime minister of Bhutan) and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (the founding father of Bangladesh but he never got any degree from DU).