Professor Dr. Mubina Khondkar
Professor Mubina Khondkar has been serving in the Department of Marketing, Faculty of Business Studies, the University of Dhaka since 1st October 1991. Now, she is on deputation and is serving the Bangladesh Public Service Commission as a member since 7th February 2022. At the University of Dhaka, in addition to teaching and research, she was involved in various administrative positions and governing bodies. She was the Chairman of the Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management at the University of Dhaka from 4th November 2009 to 18th November 2012. She was the Provost of Bangladesh-Kuwait Maitree Hall, one of the halls of residence for female students at the University of Dhaka, from 20th April 2014 to 7th July 2018. She was an elected Executive Committee Member of Dhaka University Teacher’s Association (DUTA) for two terms - 2010 and 2015. She was also an elected member, in the teacher category, of the University of Dhaka Senate for two terms - from 2013 to 2016 and from 2017 to 2020. At the University of Manchester, she was involved in part-time teaching at the Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM) from 1995 to 1998. She started her career as Management Trainee at ANZ Grindlays Bank, Dhaka in 1991.
Mubina is a member of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, the Alumni Association of the University of Manchester, the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, the Dhaka University Alumni Association, and the Marketing Alumni Association of the University of Dhaka. She was a member of the governing bodies of different higher educational institutions. She was also a member of the Bangladesh Tourism Board, Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh from 2010 to 2013, the Industry Advisory Council of the European Union for the Government of Bangladesh, and the International Labor Organization (ILO) from 2010 to 2012.
She earned her Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in Development Studies from The University of Manchester, the UK in 1998. Her Ph.D. was supervised by Professor David Hulme OBE and Professor Uma Kothari. Her thesis was titled "Women’s Access to Credit and Gender Relations in Bangladesh". She was awarded a Commonwealth Commission Scholarship to undertake her Ph.D. studies. In 2013, she conducted research as a Visiting Scholar at the Centre of Development Studies at the University of Cambridge, UK. She completed her graduation and postgraduation in Marketing from the University of Dhaka. She was awarded the Begum Rokeya Memorial Gold Medal for her extraordinary Bachelor of Commerce result at the University of Dhaka. She completed both her HSC and SSC in the science group from Holy Cross College and Agrani Girls’ School respectively. As a researcher, she worked on more than 20 research projects for different international and national organizations including the World Bank, Department for International Development (DFID, UK and Bangladesh), Women in Sustainable Enterprise Development (WISE, UK), United States Agency for International Development (USAID, Bangladesh), Concern Worldwide (Bangladesh), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Care Bangladesh, The Nielson Company, Ministry of Women’s and Children’s Affairs, Government of Bangladesh, University of Cambridge, University of Manchester, and the University of Dhaka. She is an internationally published researcher in the fields of Business, Marketing, and Development Studies - focussing on gender, and the effectiveness of international aid initiatives. She has over 40 peer-reviewed academic publications.
Mubina’s paternal grandfather, late advocate Khondkar Shamsuddin Ahmed, was an elected Member of the Bengal Legislative Assembly from Gopalganj as a member of the Krishak Praja Party. Her paternal grandmother, late Hasina Khatun was from Shinepukur Munshiganj. Mubina’s maternal grandfather, late Fakhrul Alam Chowdhury was from Ulania, Barisal, and was a government official. Her maternal grandmother, Najma Alam Chowdhury, studied at the Shakhawat Memorial School and she served as a schoolteacher. Mubina’s parents graduated from the University of Dhaka. Her father, late Khondkar A. A. Mahtabuddin, was a banker at Agrani Bank, General Manager at Sonali Bank, and Director General at Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM) and he also taught as a part-time faculty member in the Department of Finance at University of Dhaka. Her mother Nadera Mahtab is a retired schoolteacher. Mubina’s husband, Professor Dr. Mohammad Masudur Rahman, serves in the Department of Marketing at the University of Dhaka. He is also the Chairperson of the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Foundation and an Independent Director at the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE). Her son, Rahmeen Rahman, is a Ph.D. candidate in Clinical Medicine at Imperial College London, UK. Her daughter, Parisa Rahman, is an undergraduate student in English Literature at the University of Toronto, Canada. Professor Mubina’s interests include teaching, research, and writing; nature, gardening, and traveling; fashion, identity, and individualism; and gender, society, and culture.