British Council hosts Bangladesh-UK Alumni Network Gala Night

The British Council hosted the Bangladesh-UK Alumni Network (BUKAN) Gala Night 2018 on Saturday at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC). The event was a follow-up to the month long digital campaign by the British Council to reach out to UK alumni in Bangladesh. Over 250 UK alumni, including newly registered BUKAN members, attended the program. The event was opened with a short message from David Maynard, Director of English and Education at the British Council, on the British Council's activities in Bangladesh. Later, Sarwat Reza, Head of the Cultural Centre of the British Council kicked off the highlight of the event – the Human Library, where the audience was divided into small groups with volunteers from each group acting as a human book to share their stories of a woman who influenced them in their lives. Towhidur Rahman, Head of Higher Education and Regional Manager, South Asia, and Kanbar Hossein Bor, the Deputy High Commissioner to Bangladesh, were also present during the gala event. There are around 20,000 Bangladeshi UK alumni living in the country and BUKAN has been working since 2012 with the aim of uniting them under one umbrella where they can share their experiences and skills to ensure socio-economic development in the country.