Rubana Huq new VC of Asian University for Women

The Asian University for Women has appointed Rubana Huq the vice-chancellor of the university with effect from Tuesday.

A business leader and Mohammadi Group managing director Rubana Huq was the first female President of the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers’ and Exporters’ Association.

She obtained her PhD degree in literature from India’s Jadavpur University and was elected a vice-chair of the Board of Trustees of the AUW recently, said a press release.

Rubana was instrumental in launching the AUW’s pathways for promise programme that enables exceptionally talented workers from Bangladesh’s readymade garment factories to enrol at the AUW, it said. 

She is currently working as a visiting fellow at the Stern School of Business at New York University and the Asia Centre at Harvard University.

Announcing the appointment, education minister Dipu Moni said that the trustees had found an exemplary leader and administrator like Rubana Huq to lead AUW to its next stage of development.

Dipu Moni, also the chair of the AUW Board of Trustees, hoped that Rubana would bring about solid qualitative changes that would make AUW a special one.

‘To me, AUW has always been a symbol of creativity and ingenuity. The institution’s unassailable commitment to quality education and scholarship, the calibre of the faculty, and the spirit of the students from all over Asia has made the AUW unique,’ said Rubana Huq while accepting the appointment.

Founded in 2008 in Chattogram, Bangladesh, the AUW is the first of its kind: a regional institution dedicated to women’s education and leadership development through liberal arts and science education, the release said.

According to the statement, 1,160 students from 17 countries are currently attending the AUW and more than 85 per cent of the students are on full or near-full scholarships funded by supporters from around the world.