The founding fathers of engineering
education in the then East Pakistan took a
forward looking decision in establishing the
1948 in the erstwhile Ahsanullah
Engineering College. This was done in the
fond hope that graduates form the
department would play a pivotal role in
industrializing the newly independent
country. This was indeed a hold step
considering the fact that the profession was
yet to have wide acceptance outside the
Anglo-American sphere of influence. As
mentioned in the earlier section, even in
Europe independent departments of
Chemical Engineering were not yet popular.
In this respect the academic initiative and
intellectual courage demonstrated by Prof.
M.A. Naser, Late Prof. A.Q. Chowdhury,
Prof. Syed M. Mazharul Huque and others
are indeed praiseworthy. However, while the
academics were ready to produce graduates
in this new and promising profession,
industry was yet to appreciate the role of a
Chemical Engineer. The first batch of Chemical Engineers graduated in 1952 and
during the initial years only a few graduates
were produced. Demand for such graduates
from industry was virtually absent and
industrial leaders with proper appreciation of
the unique features of a Chemical Engineer's
training were hard to come by.
During the late fifties of the 20th century an
important development in the field of
engineering education in the country took
place with a strong and meaningful
academic linkage program between the
Ahsanullah Engineering College (AEC) and
US colleges of engineering. Under this
program Dr. Olaf Bergelin, a renowned
faculty from a highly ranked department of
Chemical Engineering of the University of
Delaware was assigned to help the
department grow in stature. Dr. Bergelin
came with a missionary spirit and helped
develop an academic program comparable to
current international standards and interacted
with industry to explain the role of the
profession as evidenced in industrialized
countries. It was a time when natural gas-based
industries (e.g. Urea) and paper
industries were either being planned or
implemented in the country. The ChE
faculty at AEC took pains to impress upon
the then industrial leaders the need to utilize
the members of the new profession.
However, the senior technical leaders of
industry (largely in public sector), with
training and experience in the older mode of
running chemical and process plants with
chemists and mechanical engineers, were
employing engineers about whose training
and purpose they were only vaguely
familiar. This author, after graduating from
the department in 1960 applied for the
position of an Assistant Chemical Engineer in a sugar mill. He was asked to appear at an
interview for the post of an Assistant
Chemist. When he tried to explain the role
of a Chemical Engineer to the interview
board he was finally offered the position of
an Assistant Mechanical Engineer! This
personal anecdote typically demonstrates the
that reigned during the early
days of this profession in this country.
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