Dream of building a new world: Yunus to students

Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus has urged students to dream of building a new world.

"We have the capacity to build the new that we want," he said while delivering his speech at the 5th Convocation Ceremony of Chittagong University (CU) on the university's central playground last afternoon (14 May).

In his convocation speech, Yunus said, "We will be able to build the world the way we want to build".

But everyone has to have a dream about what kind of environment and society he or she want to establish, he added.

Recalling the background of the establishment of Grameen Bank, the chief adviser said the ongoing civilisation is a civilisation of a destructive economy.

"The economy we established is an economy of business, not of people," he said, adding that the business-oriented civilisation is a suicidal one, which will not sustain itself.

Yunus said he is delighted to be here at Chittagong University after a long time, recalling that he joined the CU as a teacher in 1972.

He highlighted the 1974 famine that hit the country and how Grameen Bank was formed to help the famine-hit people in Chattogram. 

The chief adviser said the birth of Grameen Bank took place in the Economics Department of the CU.

At the function, the CU authorities conferred an honorary Doctorate of Literature (D. Litt) degree on Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus for his outstanding contributions to poverty alleviation through microcredit and establishing peace across the globe.

CU Vice-Chancellor Muhammad Yeahia Akhter handed over the certificate of the D. Litt degree to Yunus.

Education Adviser Chowdhury Rafiqul Abrar and University Grants Commission Chairman Prof SMA Faiz also spoke at the convocation, among others. 

CU Pro-Vice Chancellor (Academic) Mohammed Shamim Uddin Khan and Pro-Vice Chancellor (Administration) Md Kamal Uddin were present on the occasion. 

The CU hosted the largest convocation in the country's history ysterday, awarding degrees to 22,586 students.