Dhaka University Mosque, Dhaka

University of Dhaka was the first university to be established in East Bengal. Following demands by Nawab Sir Khwaja Salimullah Bahadur and others, in 2 February 1912 Viceroy Lord Hardinge proposed that a new University should be established in this partition of Bengal. In 1921 The University of Dhaka was established.

The establishment of the university was a compensation of the annulment of the 1905 Partition of Bengal. The partition had established East Bengal and Assam as a separate province, with Dhaka as its capital. However, the partition was abolished in 1911. In 1913, public opinion was invited before the university scheme was given its final shape. The secretary of state approved it in December 1913. The first vice-chancellor of the university, Dr. Philip Joseph Hartog, formerly academic registrar of the University of London for 17 years.