The Department of Geography and Environmental Studies is one of the well-established departments in Chittagong University. The Department was started functioning with few students and teachers in 1996. At present, the teaching staff of this department consists of 19 teachers. Currently, the total number of current students in the department is around 200. With several changes in academic setup and curriculum, the department is now placed under the Faculty of Biological Sciences. Integrated Honours Program is running since 1996-1997 sessions and to meet the challenges of time four year Honours course was introduced in 1998-99 session. The courses for the Honours Program are designed to maintain a balance between physical, human and environmental Geography. Moreover, the courses for MS program are designed to give the students specialized knowledge on different aspects of the subjects for application in national development. The Department offers courses leading to degrees in Bachelor of Science (BSc) with honours, Master of Science (MS), Master of Philosophy (MPhil) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Geography and Environmental studies.
The department is well equipped in respect of technical equipment and staffs. Besides library facilities, practical and fieldwork, the department has an adequate facility for advanced research works. There is a huge stock of maps, reference books, drawing and drafting equipment, and cartographic apparatus. The laboratories of the department were not so developed at the beginning but remarkable progress has been made in this regard during the last decade. Now the department has physical, environmental, cartographic and GIS laboratories. Recently, a computerized weather monitoring station has been established by the joint collaboration with Norwegian Geographical Institute (NGI) and Geological Survey of Bangladesh (GSB), Government of Bangladesh.
The teachers of the department are actively engaged in different research activities in different fields of the discipline including agriculture, food security, health, environment, urban, Disaster, coastal zone, sustainable development, resource management, remote sensing, and GIS application. A good number of teachers have also received training and advanced education in all the above areas of research from home and abroad. Currently, a good number of teachers are also engaged in higher study academic programs in Scotland, Australia, and Thailand. Senior teachers of this department are supervising a good number of Masters, M.Phil and Ph.D. research works in this department. The department organizes seminar, conference, and workshops on a regular basis. Students of this department take part in sports, athletics and other co-curricular activities. All the members of the department are working hard to meet the challenges of higher education of this new millennium. Most of the teachers of the department are associated with the Bangladesh Geographical Society (BGS) and Bangladesh National Geographical Association (BNGA). The department has also established the Chittagong University Geographical Association (CUGA). All the Students and teachers are a member of CUGA.
In order to provide pragmatic practical skills, the department’s curricula include courses in Environmental Impacts Analysis, Environmental Management, Disaster Management, Topographic Surveying, Computer Mapping, Geographical Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing. The successful attainment of the combination of the theoretical knowledge about human society and the environment and the practical skills in processing this information prepare the graduates to seek entry in the 21st-century careers.”