By Sorwar Alam</p> <p>ANKARA (AA) – Bangladeshi and Turkish universities have tremendous potential to develop cooperation and collaboration in various fields, said a top academic from Bangladesh.</p> <p>Professor M Wahiduzzaman, vice-chancellor of Noakhali Science and Technology University (NSTU), told Anadolu Agency that Turkish universities have a deep history and technological development that his university can benefit from. </p> <p>"These universities can help us by sharing their experience and technical support," he said, explaining NSTU’s highly ambitious project to build a marine science and marine resource management institute on roughly 400 acres of land.</p> <p>The project also includes academic research in delta plan formulation and the space exploration sector as well as on ecology, robotics and mechatronics. It also aims to build a two-story space research center and a greenhouse research center in the coastal area of Noakhali in southeastern Bangladesh to amplify the quality of research at NSTU.</p> <p>The acquisition of three acres of land for building a marine station in the near future is one of the university’s main plans, Wahiduzzaman said. There will be jetty infrastructure, a hatchery and mini pond complexes on the seashore as the university has set a goal of purchasing a deep-sea research vessel and a coastal research ship.</p> <p>He pointed out that the part of southern Bangladesh in which NSTU is located is a vibrant delta, as the Bay of Bengal has a great number of marine resources to be explored. </p> <p>Wahiduzzaman said he is hopeful that the government will approve and finance the multi-million dollar project even though NSTU is a relatively new university.</p> <p>He highlighted that the government under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has a target to transform Bangladesh into a middle income country by 2021 and a developed country by 2041. </p> <p>"If we want to reach those targets, we have to invest in academic research in these sectors," he added. </p> <p>Wahiduzzaman was in Ankara as part of a tour of Turkey, where he signed two memorandums of understanding (MoUs) — one with Istanbul Technical University (ITU) and another with Middle East Technical University (METU).</p> <p>The MoUs include the exchange of students, lecturers and researchers; collaboration on research and other scientific and educational activities; the exchange of scientific materials and information; and joint research activities.</p> <p>NSTU is a public university in Noakhali. Founded in 2005, it is the country’s 27th public university and fifth science and technology university. </p> <p>"We are very much a growing university, but we have a target to go forward with high-quality study," said Wahiduzzaman.</p> <p>"What we want from Turkey is technical support," he said, adding Turkey's technological development and academic progress were not exposed to Bangladesh.</p> <p>"I don't have much idea about [academic and research sectors in] Turkey. When we explored Turkey, we found out that there are some sectors where we can cooperate and collaborate.</p> <p>"For example, we saw that METU has been working on the satellite project and delta formation. We can get training and technical support from them.</p> <p>"I visited a high-tech park at ITU. They are also working on space technology. We can have cooperation and collaboration in these fields," he added.</p> <p>As one of the newly established universities in Bangladesh, NSTU is expecting to receive the necessary financial support from the Bangladeshi government. </p> <p>"But we don't have experience, so they [Turkish universities] can train our experts and researchers as well as give us technical support and guidance for infrastructural development," Wahiduzzaman said. </p> <p>He also expects his university to be included in a Europe-funded project to be run jointly with Turkish counterparts "so that our students, researchers can gain practical knowledge".</p> <p>"We can organize study tours and short-period student exchange programs," he added.
