First meeting held at DU on arranging next Ducsu election; VC attends

Dhaka University held its first meeting yesterday (20 August) to prepare for the next Dhaka University Central Students' Union (Ducsu) election, with the administration deciding to consult students and active student organisations and to assess the situation at the university's residential halls before finalising the election process.

The meeting was held at around 3pm and was attended by Vice-Chancellor Dr ABM Obaidul Islam, the two pro-vice-chancellors, the proctor and provosts of various residential halls.

The VC said the meeting discussed what needs to be done to hold the election, how it should be conducted and which stakeholders should be consulted.

"Students are stakeholders, so we need to sit down with the students and with the various active student organisations. We also need to meet with the disciplinary council," he said.

The administration has also assigned the hall provosts to assess the situation in their respective halls and report back to the university administration. The provosts will hold meetings at the hall level before submitting their reports.

The university administration will also hold meetings with different student organisations as part of the preparations.

"These are the matters we're currently focused on, and we'll soon begin meeting with the various organisations one by one," Dr ABM Obaidul Islam said.

PM gives guidance on Duscu election

The meeting came hours after the vice-chancellor met Prime Minister Tarique Rahman at the Secretariat yesterday morning, where they discussed Ducsu and other issues.

According to the vice-chancellor, the prime minister gave him instructions on how to proceed with the Ducsu election and asked the university administration to take the necessary steps accordingly.

"He is also very keen about student leadership, since the students of today are the future - he gave me guidance on that front as well," he said.

The vice-chancellor said the meeting with the prime minister was primarily held to brief him on the university's development projects and its 20-year plan, while also inviting him to the university's convocation scheduled for January.

"Our visit was mainly to brief him on the University of Dhaka's various development projects and on the 20-year plan we're working on to move the university forward. And since we'll be holding our convocation next January, we also went to invite him to that – to let him know we'd like him to be with us at the convocation," he added.

Schedule not finalized

The university is yet to finalise a schedule for the 2026 Duscu election.

"We haven't made a decision on that yet. We're still reviewing it - that hasn't been finalised yet," the VC said.

Under Article 6(c) of the Ducsu constitution, elected office-bearers of the union hold office for 365 days. If an election cannot be held within that period, they may continue in office for a further period of up to 90 days or until the election is held, whichever comes earlier. After that period, the union is automatically dissolved.

The current Ducsu committee assumed office on 14 September last year. Its 365-day tenure is therefore nearing its end, with the constitution allowing it to continue until 14 December if the election is not held within the original term.