In an emotionally charged return to his academic roots, Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on Wednesday called on graduates of Chittagong University (CU) to dream beyond convention and build the world they truly envision.
Addressing the 5th Convocation Ceremony of CU as the chief guest, Prof Yunus said, “I hope we all will try to shape the future of the world with our own hands, creating it the way we envision.”
“If we simply accept things as they are and conform to existing norms, then nothing will change — nothing will transform,” he added.
The convocation, held at the university’s central playground, conferred degrees on 22,586 graduates — marking it the largest such event in the country’s history, reports BSS.
The moment was especially poignant for Prof Yunus, a former faculty member of CU’s Economics Department, who joined the university in 1972. To honour his legacy, the university awarded him an honorary Doctor of Literature (DLitt) degree during the ceremony.
Returning to the campus for the first time since assuming office as chief adviser, the Nobel Peace laureate was greeted with cheers, emotion, and admiration from students, faculty, and former colleagues.
“It’s a historic reunion,” he told the graduates. “A big chapter has ended while a new one begins.”
Reflecting on his early days at CU, Prof Yunus recounted the 1974 famine that devastated parts of Bangladesh. He described how he and his students began promoting Boro paddy cultivation using deep tube wells and water from nearby springs to help local communities in crisis, reports UNB.
“The birth of Grameen Bank took place right here, in this university,” he said, recalling his initial experiments with microcredit in Jobra village, adjacent to the campus.
“The economy we built is an economy of business, not of people,” Yunus said. It is a civilisation of destruction. We must shift towards an economy centred on people and sustainability.
Encouraging students to dream boldly, he said, “Everyone should have a dream in their heart — of the kind of world, society, and family they want. We have the capacity to build the world we want, but it starts with the courage to imagine something different.”
The convocation was presided over by CU Vice Chancellor Prof Yeahia Akhter while Education Adviser CR Abrar, UGC Chairman Prof Dr SMA Faiz, and a number of cabinet advisers including Farooq-e-Azam, Dr Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan, Nurjahan Begum, Farida Akhter, and Lamiya Morshed, were also present at the ceremony, alongside Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam.