Student clubs of CU business faculty: Shaping skills, making leaders

Clubs in universities work to enhance students' skills. They help students gain practical knowledge and participate in extracurricular activities. As a Chittagong University (CU) student, this writer has closely followed how such clubs work. Let's have a look at them through the 6 clubs in CU.

Finance Business & Debating Association (FBDA)

Finance Business & Debating Association (FBDA) is the club of the Department of Finance, which started its journey in 2007. As it was the first English Debating club in the faculty, it had to struggle initially to establish itself. Till 2022, it has declared 12 executive committees.

The activities of FBDA are launched to enhance the skills of its members through debating, business idea generation and case solutions, public speaking, presentation, and professional skills, including Microsoft Office, Photoshop, CV Writing, and Leadership Development. FBDA has had remarkable success throughout the journey in English Debating and Business Competition.

Communication in Action- 2020 (International Debate Competition) and Biz Fest- 2021 (Regional Business Competition) are two memorable events organised by FBDA. It also has an advisory panel with 7 teachers from the Finance department currently in it.

Mohammad Jubaer Hossain, President of FBDA, said, "I believe that when I share my expectations about my organisation, I do speak for everyone else. We expect nothing from the future leaders of FBDA but to stick to the values that the club has been practicing since its inception. As for the accomplishments, they will come by product if the right process has been followed."

Banking Fellows for Leadership Development (BFLD)

Banking Fellows for Leadership Development (BFLD) is run by The Department of Banking and Insurance, established in 2017. The club's main objective is to develop students' skills for the corporate sector. Till now, it has declared 5 executive committees.

To enhance the students' public speaking skills, BFLD arranges sessions every Sunday. The sessions focus on five major topics named business case solving, presentation, public speaking, debate, and research. 

Also, there is an intra-department monthly event of the club named 'Face to Face', which occurs in two parts: public speaking and brainstorming. A workshop, 'Level Art', is organised to develop students' technical skills.

BFLD arranged some excellent programmes named Leader's Voice 1.0 (Intra Department Competition), Women Fair on International Women's Day, Excellence in Research (Inter-University Research Workshop), Percipient's Prospects (Intra Department Business Competition), and Fair on Independence Day- 2022.

The teachers of The Department of Banking and Insurance are advisors of BFLD. The club is trying to launch some national and international events. 

Athkia Subat, President of BFLD, shared, "I believe that the students should engage themselves in different skill development activities to explore their inner talents. Keeping this in mind, BFLD always arranges sessions and other productive activities by which the students can be involved with the corporate world. I expect that the trend will continue in future, too, and the students will benefit largely from the club."

Management Communication Club (MCC)

The Department of Management runs Management Communication Club (MCC). It has been operating since June 2005. Behind the history of launching this club was the immense necessity to develop the students' soft skills aside from their academic activities so that they could distinguish themselves in the corporate world. 14 executive committees of the club have been declared to date.

MCC conducts different types of activities for the skill development of the students. These activities include regular sessions, workshops on Public speaking, professional E-mail Writing, Presentation & Slide Making, CV Writing, Internship and Report writing etc. 

It conducted events, including competitions on Public Speaking, Infographic Slide Making, Case Solving, and Movie Review Competitions. It launches programmes with the collaboration of different organisations to arrange Roadshows and Sessions. The teachers of the Department of Management play the role of Advisors in MCC.

Mustafa Tanzim Jawad, President of MCC, said, "MCC has always created leaders across the years who have established themselves successfully in their professional life. We are fortunate enough to have this amazing platform, and I believe that our members will make the best out of it."

Accounting Communication Club (ACC)

Accounting Communication Club (ACC) is run by The Department of Accounting. The demand for a platform for the students to practice their communication skills and represent the department nationally cemented the club's necessity. Since its establishment in 2013, there have been 6 Executive Committees launched to till now.

ACC focuses on students' skill development through various activities, such as sessions on different topics, presentations, debating and case-solving. These practices have allowed them to improve their interpersonal and communication skills to represent the department.

Throughout this decade, ACC has launched many national and regional debate and business case competitions, for example - Biz-Dialectic: Season 2 ( a national debate completion) and Biz-Star: Season 3 (a national Business Case Competition). 

Moreover, it has organised workshops and events with numerous organisations, including ICAB, ICMAB, MBA Association, Banglalink, Smartifier Academy, EduMig etc. 

It also collaborated with many clubs nationwide to promote events to national audiences. Participating in debate and case competitions and winning titles like Youth Fest Champion, Trek Open Champion, Throne Season 2, Recruitment 4.0 etc. are some of the proud moments the club.

Syed Mustafa Mutmayeen, President of ACC, said, "By the grace of Almighty Allah and the hard work of all our members, we will represent Department of Accounting and University of Chittagong to the International audiences as a prominent club of this country with success."

Marketing Society for Leadership Proliferation (MSLP)

The Marketing Society for Leadership Proliferation is a club of the Department of Marketing that started in 2009. To enhance leadership quality, the club develops communication skills and nourishes business acumen through multidimensional activities. It conducts activities including Case Studies and Business Competitions, Business and Social Idea generation, Debate, Public Speaking, workshops and seminars, Training programmes etc. 

Ensuring quality and building leadership skills with a competitive mindset and proper intellect were the main reasons why the ex-students of this department founded this club with cordial help from the teachers. The club has declared its 14th executive committee. 

One of the significant events of MSLP is Market Challenger, an Intra-department case and branding competition hosted by MSLP. Another significant club event was the Speaker Hunt, a public speaking competition.

Mohammed Morshed Alam, President of MSLP, told the writer, "I believe that co-curricular activities or soft skills work like zeros. Every zero will multiply our performance and efficiency ten-fold. In our vision, 'Aiming at bringing the future business leaders out of the cocoon', we consider our club as a learning hub consisting of our teachers, alumnus and others stake holders." 

"We want to introduce right attitude and attribute in our members to connect every possible dot to unleash our maximum potentials and ignite our greatness in national and international stages massively in the upcoming days."

Chittagong University Human Resource Club (CU HR Club)

Chittagong University Human Resource Club (CU HR Club) is a club under The Department of Human Resource Management, and it started its journey on 25th March 2019 to flourish the undergraduates' skill advancement in multiple arenas.

It intends to enrich the Department of Human Resource Management students by excelling in their competencies and preparing them for the real corporate world. 

Since the club's inception, three executive councils have served. The skill development activities of the club include regular sessions, workshops and seminars, multiple events organising scopes for business students etc.

HR Quest 1.0, Speak Up with CUHRC, Corporate Voice, Leading Paragon, Academic Research Excellence, and Inside Talk are the remarkable events of CU HR Club. It also initiated the CUHRC Futsal Fiesta-2022 sports competition and marked a praiseworthy response to the remarkable social events Alor Fari, Kiron.

Barna Chowdhury, President of CU HR Club, said, "A platform for grooming HR leaders with multi-dimensional skill enhancement is our core objective to build our potential youth minds dynamically. I believe that our energetic souls will be the change maker of this competitive era. I hope that by upholding the flagship with 'Bring Change, Lead Change' the students will certainly prove themselves as human resources."

[email protected]