The School of Business and Economics (SOBE) at United International University (UIU) launched the “NEXUS Seminar Series” at UIU Campus yesterday. This long-term initiative will serve as an institutional bridge for continuous industry-academia conversations on the intersection of business, economy and society.
As the Bangladesh economy navigates global volatility alongside internal challenges—such as banking sector stress and rising business costs—this newly launched monthly public seminar series will act as a platform for academic activism. NEXUS seminars at SOBE will host industry practitioner-led dialogues where UIU students will benefit from direct access to learn from top industry leaders, blending classroom instruction with experiential learning.
Dr. Iftikhar Mostafa, Senior Agriculture Economist at the World Bank and an internationally recognized expert, delivered the keynote lecture titled “Innovation, Value Chains, and Public–Private Collaboration for Systemic Reform.” Drawing on three decades of global experience, Dr. Mostafa underscored the importance of building innovation ecosystems, strengthening global value chains (GVCs), and fostering meaningful Public–Private Partnerships to drive systemic reform. He shared examples of scalable solutions from regions including Australia and Africa, illustrating how aligned incentives can enable sustainable and inclusive development.
The designated discussant, Professor M. Omar Farooq, Head of the Department of Economics at UIU, emphasized that moving up GVCs requires a broader and more sophisticated understanding of value creation, value capture, and value distribution in Bangladesh’s post-LDC economy. He underscored the importance of systems thinking and capacity building as essential prerequisites for achieving meaningful systemic reform, clarifying that systemic reform does not occur in a vacuum. He further stressed the importance of fostering interdisciplinary approaches and capabilities in higher education, noting that most of the pressing problems and challenges confronting society today transcend the boundaries of any single academic discipline.
The Convenor of the NEXUS series, Professor M. Niaz Asadullah, warned that Bangladesh’s traditional growth playbook has reached its structural limits. “In the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) era, minimizing difficult economic trade-offs demands scalable, innovative solutions,” Prof. Asadullah noted, adding that systemic reform requires the state, private markets, and academia to speak a unified language.
Professor Emeritus Dr. M. Rezwan Khan, Executive Director of IAR and Former VC of UIU, alongside Prof. Dr. Salma Karim, Director of the BBA Program at UIU, also shared their insights on institutionalizing research-driven policy dialogue.
The launch event concluded with an interactive question-and-answer session on actionable policy reforms, bringing together heads of departments, faculty members, researchers, and high-level industry representatives from the banking and financial sectors.