North South University’s (NSU) School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHSS) organised the ‘NSU SHSS Undergraduate Colloquium Series Spring 2026’ on 28 January, 2026. This colloquium accumulated a diverse range of audience from distinguished faculty members, students, academics and researchers. The Special Guest was Prof. Nasar U. Ahmed, the Honorable Pro Vice-Chancellor at NSU. The student presenters were Jarin Tasnim Nuha from the Department of English & Modern Languages, Md. Kowshik Shahriar from the Department of Law and Atria Orion from the Department of Media, Communication, and Journalism, a press release said.
Poroma Subha Mostafiz, Lecturer at the Department of English & Modern Languages, NSU, moderated the colloquium, and appreciated the academic curiosity of the presenters for working on unique research projects. Md. Rizwanul Islam, Professor of Law and Dean of SHSS at NSU, welcomed the presenters and encouraged them for keeping up their intellectual efforts for conducting original research.
Jarin Tasnim Nuha presented on her paper, “On Coherence and Clarity of Secondary-Level Textbooks in Bangladesh: A Comparative Discourse Analysis,” where she provided a distinction between English Medium and English Version textbooks. She concluded with the findings, revealing that English Version texts are often more abstract and information-dense, leading to recommendations for curriculum developers to prioritize clearer linguistic structures for students.
Kowshik Shahriar presented on his paper “When All Laws Are Equal But Some Cases Are More Equal: Implementing ‘Prioritised Legal Matters’ in Bangladesh’s Justice System,” where he proposed a rule-based framework to tackle the country’s backlog of over 45 lakh pending cases. He advocated for replacing ad hoc executive decisions with a transparent, statutory system to expedite high-impact crimes in recent years like rape, corruption, and mob violence, aiming to enhance accountability and predictability while ensuring a more responsive justice delivery system.
Atria Orion presented on “Media Sustainability Vs Media Independence: A Political Economy Analysis of Bangladeshi Journalism” where she focused on the tension between media sustainability and independence. She further highlighted how structural constraints force media outlets to prioritize economic survival over editorial autonomy. She concluded that achieving true independence requires addressing these underlying power structures rather than relying solely on the institutional or economic reforms proposed in the 2025 Media Reform Commission Report.
During the Q&A segment, faculty members engaged with the presenters on their respective research topics and exchanged their views and reflections. The interactive exchange of ideas deeply immersed all the attendees.
Prof. Norman Kenneth Swazo, Director, Office of Research at North South University, served as the discussant and offered critical insights into the methodologies used by each of the student researchers and emphasized the importance of facilitating a robust research culture at the undergraduate level. Prof. Nasar U. Ahmed, the Honorable Pro Vice-Chancellor at NSU and the Special Guest for this session praised the interdisciplinary nature of the presentations and emphasized the university’s commitment to supporting academic excellence. The program then concluded with a Certificate of Appreciation handed to the presenters, in recognition of their valuable contributions.
