An Introduction to 

Department of Islamic History and Culture

The University of Rajshahi in Rajshahi, Bangladesh was founded in 1953 under the Rajshahi University Act 1953. It started its academic activities during the session 1954-55 only with eight Departments. The Department of History was one of them. Teaching of Islamic History and Culture was started within the History Department at the Masters previous level during the session 1955-56. Only four students got admitted into this year. In November 1956 Islamic History and Culture emerged as a full-fledged Department with its separate entity. A renowned scholar and historian Professor Dr. M.A. Bari was the founder head of the Dept. He was a man with his profound knowledge later on became the Vice-Chancellor of Rajshahi University and National University Bangladesh. He also performed duty as Chairman of the University Grants Commission for two terms. He did a lot for the qualitative and quantitative development of the Department. With the passage of time, three year Honours course was introduced in this Department in 1962. Changes took place in academic and extra-academic activities to face the need of the time. Integrated course system was also introduced since 1994-95 session. Thereafter in 1998 four year Honours course was introduced. Later on it was modified and grading system was introduced at the Honours and Masters levels since 2006-2007 sessions.