Malaysian High Commissioner Dato Abdul Malek bin Abdul Aziz formally inaugurated the academic programmes at a ceremony at the National Press Club in the city.

The three-year programmes are BSc (Hons) in mobile computing, first of its kind in Bangladesh, and BA (Hons) in business administration.

Perdana College offers the courses in partnership with University College Sedaya International (UCSI), Malaysia.

The programmes are designed specially to produce future workforce with tailor-made training and skills for the telecommunication sector, said Koay Chee Hoe, principal of the college.

Meritorious students are also offered scholarships and academic awards, he added.

Malaysian High Commissioner Abdul Malek said Malaysia is fast becoming a regional centre for education excellence with 40,000 foreign students from over 120 countries.

Bangladesh is now the third largest source of foreign students, he said, adding that the number of Bangladeshi students was 5,000 in 2005 and 7,000 in 2006.

Henry E Coulter, course coordinator of department of English, Perdana College, moderated the function while Ahmed bin Ismail, managing director of AKTEL, also spoke.