Message from Dean

The Faculty of Arts of Rajshahi University started its journey along with the establishment of the university itself in 1953. Professor Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah was appointed the first Dean of the faculty in 1955. Initially the faculty comprised seven departments. These departments were Bangla, English, Philosophy, History, Islamic History, Psychology and Commerce. But currently it has emerged as the biggest faculty consisting of as many as twelve departments. They are: Philosophy, History, English, Bangla, Islamic History & Culture, Arabic, Islamic Studies, Music, Theatre, Persian language & Literature, Sanskrit and Urdu. The Faculty of Arts looks after all the academic activities of these departments. The departments offer not only BA/BPA Honours and MA/MPA courses but also M.Phil and Ph.D. programmes. Some of the departments of the faculty also run evening Masters programmes. Every year now this faculty admits about 1000 students in the first year Honours Programme and a good number of research students into the M.Phil and Ph.D. programmes. Brilliant students obtaining high grades in their Honours programme can also do research in their Masters programme. At present the number of teachers in the faculty is more than 200 and this number is increasing day by day with the increasing number of students to meet the demand of the time. Many teachers of the faculty have earned global recognition as outstanding scholars for their contributions to their respective fields of knowledge. In late 2019 the Faculty of Arts organized its first ever international Conference on Literature, History, Culture and it was widely praised as a successful programme. A large number of scholars from both home and abroad presented papers at this conference. The faculty regularly publishes a research journal titled A Research Journal:Faculty of Arts to encourage teachers to engage themselves in research. The faculty also gives Dean’s Award to brilliant students who stand first in their Honours final Examinations in each department. The Faculty of Arts for the first time introduced the semester system in the 2019-2020 session.

DR. MUHAMMAD BELAL HOSSAIN
Honorable Dean
Faculty of Arts