IUB hosts Curriculum Development Workshop on Integrated Water Resources Management

A curriculum development workshop on integrated water resources management (IWRM) was held at the Independent University Bangladesh (IUB) from 20 July-24 July, 2017. The workshop was jointly organised by the School of Environmental Science and Management (SESM) at IUB and the Institute for Technology and Resources Management in the Tropics and Subtropics (ITT) at TH Köln (University of Applied Sciences). A team of IWRM programme experts from ITT and a team of SESM faculty members attended the workshop. The team from IUB was led by Dr. Abdul Khaleque, Dean, SESM. The workshop was supported by the Centre for Natural Resources Development (CNRD) project funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). CNRD is a network of 14 Universities across the World and IUB is the Bangladesh partner of the network.

The workshop explored the potentials for establishing a collaborative joint degree Master Programme on IWRM between IUB and ITT. It also discussed regulatory requirements and logistics, administrative and financial support required to establish the programme. The workshop participants on 22 July went for a field visit. The participants of the workshop agreed that SESM has the necessary capacity to host the masters programme, and suggested that SESM should forward the proposal to IUB administration for further consideration and final decision on the programme. They also underscored the value the programme could add to both IUB and ITT/CNRD. The workshop participants also decided that if approved by both IUB and ITT administration the IWRM programme will eventually became a part of CNRD, and will eventually be open to all CNRD partners. A follow-up meeting on the workshop and the proposed IWRM programme will take place in Köln, Germany in September, 2017.