Bangladesh Open University
Profile
- Ownership
- public
- Vice-Chancellor
- Professor Dr. Mohammad Siddiqur Rahman Khan
- Students
- 302777
- Faculty
- —
- Annual budget
- —
- Established
- 1992
- District
- Gazipur
New VC (Khan, since 2026-03-17) is consolidating leadership after the March 16 reshuffle; pursuing quality and transparency agenda while the Treasurer post is now vacant following May 14 government batch appointment of Prof. Shamim as PUST VC.
Recent activity
- 2026-03-16 appointment Government announced appointment of Professor Dr. Mohammad Siddiqur Rahman Khan (former Dean, Faculty of Arts, University of Dhaka) as Vice-Chancellor of BOU, replacing Professor Dr. A. B. M. Obaidul Islam who was simultaneously appointed VC of Dhaka University. ↗↗↗
- 2026-03-17 appointment Professor Dr. Mohammad Siddiqur Rahman Khan formally took charge as BOU Vice-Chancellor; his four-year term begins on this date. ↗↗
- 2026-04-17 examination MA and MSS (1st term) entrance examinations held nationwide across BOU study centres. ↗
- 2026-04-24 examination VC Professor Siddiqur Rahman Khan visited SSC examination centres; noted smooth, cheat-free environment during his inspection. ↗
- 2026-04-26 other BOU launched a 4-month Professional Development Training for university faculty under the UGC-World Bank HEAT (Higher Education Acceleration & Transformation) programme. ↗
- 2026-05-08 international BOU VC and UNICEF Education Manager Louise Leake held a coordination meeting at UNICEF Cox's Bazar office; both sides committed to joint activities expanding inclusive education and capacity-building for marginalized communities in Cox's Bazar. ↗↗
- 2026-05-08 examination MA and MSS (Preliminary and Final) examinations commenced nationwide at BOU study centres. ↗
- 2026-05-14 appointment Government gazette notification appointed BOU Treasurer Professor Dr. Abul Hasnat Md. Shamim as Vice-Chancellor of Pabna University of Science and Technology in the 11-university May 14 reshuffle batch; BOU itself was not in this batch. ↗↗
- 2026-05-16 appointment BOU Treasurer Professor Dr. Abul Hasnat Md. Shamim took charge at Pabna University of Science and Technology as VC, creating a vacancy in the BOU Treasurer post. ↗↗
- 2026-05-16 examination VC visited MA and MSS examination centres to oversee administration of the ongoing final examinations. ↗
Provenance & notes
Student count (302,777) is the current enrolled figure from the BOU homepage as of May 2026, distinct from the Wikipedia cumulative lifetime enrollment of ~965,838 (as of Dec 2020). Faculty count omitted: the Wikipedia figure of 26,625 'academic staff' from 2016 includes all tutorial centre instructors and is not comparable to standard faculty counts; no current verified figure available. Annual budget omitted: no verified public document found for BOU's institution-level budget allocation for FY2024-25 or FY2025-26. Treasurer post is de facto vacant as of May 16, 2026 following Prof. Shamim's departure to PUST; the BOU website had not yet updated the Treasurer page at time of verification. BOU was not included in the May 14, 2026 11-university reshuffle batch; that batch affected BUET, Islamic University, Comilla, Barishal, Rangamati S&T, and others.
Sources
- https://www.bou.ac.bd/BOU/VCProfile
- https://www.bou.ac.bd/BOU/NewsEvent
- https://bou.ac.bd/public/Registrar/Office
- https://www.bssnews.net/news/369752
- https://www.bssnews.net/news/369455
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh_Open_University
- https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/education/news/education-minister-names-new-vcs-du-ru-cu-and-kuet-4130121
- https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/education/govt-appoints-new-vcs-11-public-universities-1439556
- https://www.newagebd.net/post/country/250122/sayeed-ferdous-new-pro-vc-of-bou
- https://www.tbsnews.net/economy/corporates/bou-appoints-dr-abul-hasnat-md-shamim-new-treasurer-988851
- https://www.businesstimes-bd.com/bangladesh/6558
- https://dailynewnation.com/news/826471
- https://pust.ac.bd/administration/Vice-Chancellor-Office
- https://www.amaderbarta.net/en/news/improving-quality-of-services-to-students-highest-priority-bou-vc-368029