The
American Institute of Bangladesh Studies (AIBS), an association
of 14 Universities and Institutes of higher learning including reputed
Universities in the USA, aims at promoting scholarly level understanding
between Bangladesh and USA. Supported by help and assistance of
the Government of Bangladesh, through Ministry of Foreign Affairs
(since its establishment in 1989) and the US Federal Government
from 1993, the AIBS has been strengthening, steadily and continuously
the understanding of Bangladesh in the USA.
The main objectives of the Institute are to promote
educational exchange at the advanced level between the peoples
of Bangladesh and the United States. Research grants are provided
on a regular basis to American scholars to pursue research in
Bangladesh on studies and projects aimed at understanding of the
history, society and culture of Bangladesh. Grants are also provided
to Bangladeshi scholars for reciprocal purposes, under the parallel
program initiated in July 1993 with financial assistance of the
USIA, (now State Department).
The AIBS operates its activities in Bangladesh
through the Centre for Development Research, Bangladesh (CDRB).
66 grantees of the AIBS have completed their
assignments in Bangladesh during 1990 to December 2004, one US
scholar, grantee of AIBS, is now in the country conducting research.
14 American Universities/Institutions are currently affiliated
with the AIBS. These include: University of Pennsylvania, University
of California, Berkeley, University of Columbia, University of
Chicago, Cornell University, The Pennsylvania State University,
Lock Haven University, North Carolina State University, Rowan
University, New Jersey, Southern Illinois University, Syracuse
University, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, University
of Texas, Austin, University of Washington, Wake Forest University.
With the growing participation and interest in its program both
in the United States and Bangladesh, the supporting program funded
by the US Federal Government through the USIA (now State Department)
and Council of American Overseas Research Centres (CAORC) has
helped to expand the activities for scholarly exchanges by providing
grants to Bangladeshi scholars to visit the United States for
research and educational purposes. This grant from the USIA (now
State Department) provided dollar funds, during the last eleven
financial years (1993-2004) to finance 17 short-term grants to
Bangladeshi scholars from the Dhaka University, Jahangir Nagar
University, Chittagong University and Rajshahi University and
Shahjalal University, Sylhet. The grant also is designed to support
a seminar every year for Faculty and Administration Development
in public and private Universities and other higher educational
institutions in Bangladesh.
Under
the US Federal Government grants the AIBS has been running since
1994, a programme of orientation visit to Bangladesh by undergraduate
students teams from various US Universities and colleges. The teams
are led by Faculty members and visit Bangladesh for a period of
3 weeks exposing themselves to the life, culture, development and
academic activities of Bangladesh. They also travel outside Dhaka
to see life in the outlying areas and visit such places as Chittagong,
Comilla, Sylhet, Jessore and Khulna. The teams that have so far
visited Bangladesh are:
Penn. State University, Muhlenberg College & Juniata College,
Pennsylvania, USA (May, 1994).
Juniata College, Pennsylvania, USA
May, 1995).
Wake Forest University,
North Carolina, USA (May-June,1996).
University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh,
USA (June-July, 1997).
Hampton University,
Virginia, USA (May, 1998).
Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota,
USA (May-June, 1999).
Rowan University,
Glassboro, New Jersey, USA (May-June, 2000).
Middlebury College, Vermont, USA
(January, 2001).
Winona State University
Minnesota (November – December 2003).
