Professor A. S. M. Maksud Kamal has resigned from his position as the Vice-Chancellor of Dhaka University. In his resignation letter, he cited ‘personal reasons’ for his decision. Professor Kamal, who is from the Department of Disaster Science and Climate Resilience, assumed the role of Vice-Chancellor on November 4, 2022, after his appointment on October 15, 2022.
This afternoon, Professor Kamal confirmed his resignation to Prothom Alo. He stated that he had waited until the formation of the new government before making his decision. After consulting with an advisor following the government formation, he submitted his resignation letter to the Ministry of Education today.
Professor Kamal has a long history of service at Dhaka University, having been involved with the Senate, Syndicate, and other university bodies for many years. He has also served multiple terms as the President and General Secretary of the Dhaka University Teachers’ Association and was the convener of the pro-Awami League teachers’ organization, the Blue Party. Under his leadership, Dhaka University saw improvements in international rankings this year, though he chose to step down in the context of the government’s change.
In addition to Professor Kamal’s resignation, it is reported that the heads of seven university halls at Dhaka University have also resigned. Professor Kamal joined the Department of Geology at Dhaka University as a lecturer in March 2000 and was promoted to professor in 2010. Prior to his university tenure, he worked for nearly six years as a scientific officer at the Bangladesh Space Research and Remote Sensing Organization (SPARSO). He is an expert in earthquake and tsunami management as well as urban disaster management.
Professor Kamal completed his SSC in 1982, HSC in 1984, and earned his BSc (Honors) and MSc in Geology from Dhaka University in 1988 and 1989, respectively. He obtained a PhD in earthquake engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology (TIT) in Japan in 2004. He has published 65 scientific papers in domestic and international journals.
