Experimenta.hk

AUW Support Foundation 1100 Massachusetts Ave., Suite 300 Chittagong - 4000, Bangladesh (P) 880-31-2854980-7
Introduction
The Asian University for Women (AUW) is being established as a leading institution of higher
learning for women from across Asia. The campus located in Chittagong, Bangladesh, is
designed by renowned architect Moshe Safdie, and is being constructed on land donated by the
Government of Bangladesh. The University is a regional institution dedicated solely to women’s
education and leadership development. AUW will be international in outlook but rooted in the
contexts and aspirations of people across Asia, offering a curriculum that combines liberal arts
and the sciences with graduate professional training. The principal institutional financial
supporters of the project to date include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Goldman
Sachs Foundation, the Open Society Institute, Citigroup Foundation, and USAID.
The mission of the Asian University for Women is based on the firm belief that education—
especially higher education—provides a critical pathway to leadership development, economic
progress, and social and political equity. AUW will educate promising young women from
diverse cultural, religious, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds from across South and
South East Asia and the Middle East—with a particular emphasis on the inclusion of women
from poor, rural, and refugee populations. AUW will enable its students to become skilled and
innovative professionals, service-oriented leaders and promoters of tolerance and
understanding. With an initial student body of 200, and growing towards an enrollment of 2700,
the target student/faculty ratio is 13:1.
Access Academy
In March 2008, AUW opened its Access Academy, a year-long, pre-collegiate bridge program;
designed to ensure that promising students who lack adequate secondary school training have
an opportunity to acquire the requisite preparation for a rigorous University education. The
Access Academy currently houses 129 students from Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Nepal,
Pakistan and Sri Lanka who will matriculate to the new university in September 2009. AUW
also partnered with WorldTeach, a non-profit organization affiliated with the Center for
International Development at Harvard University, to identify, recruit and train teachers for the
Access Academy.
Building International Relationships

Stanford University
Recognized world-wide as a leading educational institution, Stanford University has offered to
send two of its brightest post doctoral fellows to serve as part of the founding faculty for the year
2009-2010.
The relationship between Stanford University and the Asian University for Women highlights
AUW’s dedication to bringing world-class education and international faculty to Chittagong.
AUW students will be prepared for careers working side-by-side with their peers from around
the world—including those from Stanford.

Aalborg University
Internationally renowned for “the Aalborg Model of PBL,” Aalborg University in Denmark is
renowned for its inter-disciplinary, problem-oriented approach to innovative research and
education. The University has entered into an agreement with the Asian University for Women
to collaborate on establishing a graduate program in Information & Communication Technology.
As part of the initiative, Aalborg University will provide AUW with its own faculty members until a
full Computer Science faculty has been recruited. Aalborg University is also developing an
initiative to recruit South and South East Asian students to complete their doctoral degrees at
Aalborg, before returning to Bangladesh to teach at the Asian University for Women.
Governance
The hal mark of AUW’s institutional identity is a far-reaching Charter that establishes the
University as an international, independent organization with privileges and immunities akin to
those generally accorded to UN agencies. The Charter was approved and ratified through an
Act of the Parliament of Bangladesh in September 2006. It provides AUW with institutional
autonomy, guarantees full academic freedom and wholly enshrines the principle of non-
discrimination—unique privileges in a region where universities frequently suffer from the
fragility of such commitments.
The development of the University is being guided by an international network of proven leaders
in the educational, financial, and developmental sectors. The Asian University for Women
Support Foundation (AUWSF), incorporated as a non-profit organization based in the United
States and located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, serves as the principal planning and
fundraising organization for this effort. The Foundation is governed by a Board of Directors, and
a list of its members appears at the end of this documents.
In 2007, AUWSF began developing the slate of the University’s founding Board of Trustees,
drawing from the region’s leaders in business, academic, and non-governmental sectors. A
number of prominent personalities have agreed to be nominated, including: Mr. Fazle Abed,
Chairman of BRAC; Madame Lone Dybkjaer, Former Minister of Environment of Denmark; Ms.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairman of Biocon, Ltd.; and Mr. Ratan Tata, Chairman of the Tata
Group.
The Foundation has adopted strict transparency policies as part of its partnership with BRAC,
the leading and most highly reputable NGO in the region. It has also engaged Transparency
International—the global watchdog on corruption—as an independent monitor. The creation of
the Asian University for Women is therefore anticipated to serve as an exemplary regional
model for integrity, accountability, and transparency.
Kamal Ahmad, Founder and CEO, AUWSF
Kamal Ahmad serves as the President and CEO of the Asian University for Women Support
Foundation. Mr. Ahmad was educated at the Phillips Exeter Academy, Harvard College, and
the University of Michigan Law School. He has combined a career in private transactional law
practice and international development. He focused on corporate mergers and acquisitions, as
well as U.S. federal securities laws, while at the New York offices of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver
& Jacobson (1996-2000) and the London office of Mayer, Brown, Rowe and Maw (2001-2002).
Immediately prior to joining AUWSF, he was on the staff of the General Counsel of the Asian
Development Bank based in Manila, Philippines. He has also worked with the World Bank, the
Rockefeller Foundation, and UNICEF. In 1998, Mr. Ahmad helped launch the World
Bank/UNESCO Task Force on Higher Education and Society, which he co-directed with
Professor David Bloom of Harvard University. Mr. Ahmad currently serves on the Board of
Trustees of BRAC USA and as a member of the Jury for Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards-
Asia.

Chairman of the Board, Jack Meyer
Jack Meyer is Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Asian University for Women Support
Foundation. He is CEO and Senior Managing Partner of Convexity Capital Management, LP in
Boston. Prior to founding Convexity in 2005, Mr. Meyer was President and CEO of the Harvard
Management Company, which oversees the University's endowment assets, pension funds,
charitable trusts, and pooled income funds, which totaled over of $31 billion by the end of his
term. Prior to HMC, he was Treasurer and Chief Investment Officer of the Rockefeller
Foundation, where he managed the Foundation's endowment, valued at $2 billion. Mr. Meyer
also served as Deputy Controller of New York City, where he managed $20 billion in total
assets, including the City's pension funds, sinking funds, and treasury funds. Mr. Meyer
currently serves on the Board of Directors and the Investment Committee of The Boston
Foundation.
He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Denison University, where he was also
awarded an honorary doctorate degree in 2004. Mr. Meyer received his Masters in Business
Administration from Harvard Business School.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
www.asian-university.org

BOARD OF DIRECTORS, AUW SUPPORT FOUNDATION
Jack R. Meyer, Senior Managing Partner and CEO, Convexity Capital Management; Former
President, Harvard Management Company; Board Chairman
Kamal Ahmad, President and CEO, Asian University for Women Support Foundation
Ritu Banga, Member of the Executive Board, Joint Schools Activities, Inc.
Vivian Lowery Derryck, Senior Vice President, Academy for Educational Development; Former
Assistant Administrator for Africa, US Agency for International Development (USAID)
Ezra S. Field, Managing Director, Roark Capital Group; Director of Jenny Craig, Accent Energy,
Excel Polymers and Cornhuskers Energy
Hanna H. Gray, President Emerita, Harry Pratt Judson Distinguished Service Professor Emerita
of History, University of Chicago
Hoon Eng Khoo, Provost and Acting Vice Chancellor, Asian University for Women
Kathy M. Matsui, Managing Director and Chief Japan Strategist; Co-Director of Pan Asian
Investment Research, Goldman Sachs (Japan) Ltd.
Janet Montag, formerly with JPMorgan Chase, New York City
Judy Moody-Stuart, Educator, Community Advocate and Philanthropist; Trustee,
Transparency International (UK Chapter); Member, International Advisory Board, School of
Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London
William H. Newton-Smith, Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy, Balliol College, Oxford University;
Chair, Higher Education Sub-board, Open Society Institute
Kathleen M. Pike, Kathleen M. Pike, Professor and Assistant Dean for Research, Temple
University - Japan Campus, Tokyo; Former Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry,
Columbia University
Henry Rosovsky, Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor Emeritus, and Former
Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences, Harvard University
Jennifer A. Shore, Former Vice President, Citigroup, Inc.
Diana L. Taylor, Managing Director, Wolfensohn & Company, LLC; Former Superintendent of
Banks for the State of New York
AUW INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT COMMITTEE
Head of the Government, People’s Republic of Bangladesh; Committee Co-Chair Lone Dybkjaer, Member of Parliament and Former Minister of Environment, Denmark;
Committee Co-Chair
Rasha Al-Sabah, Under Secretary for Higher Education, Kuwait
Sang Chang, Chair of the Korean Council for Presidents of Private Universities; Former Prime
Minister of South Korea-designate; Former President of Ewha Woman’s University, South Korea
Donald Johnston, Former Secretary-General, Organization of Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD); former Attorney-General, Government of Canada
Kang Kum-Sil, Ambassador for Gender Affairs and Former Minister of Justice, Republic of
Korea
Mark Malloch Brown, UK Minister for Africa, Asia, and the UN; Former Deputy Secretary-
General, United Nations
Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General, UNESCO
Jack R. Meyer, Senior Managing Partner and CEO, Convexity Capital Management and
Former President, Harvard Management Company
Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director of the United National Population Fund (UNFPA)
Mamphela Ramphele, Chairperson, Circle Capital Ventures; Former Managing Director, the
World Bank; Former Vice Chancellor, University of Cape Town
George Soros, Chairman, Soros Fund Management LLC.; Chairman of the Open Society
Institute
BANGLADESH BOARD OF ADVISORS
Rokia Afzal Rahman, President, Women Entrepreneurs Association, Bangladesh; Board Chair
Fazle Hasan Abed, Founder and Chairman, BRAC, the world’s largest non-governmental
organization
Kamal Ahmad, President and CEO, Asian University for Women Support Foundation
Fakhruddin Ahmed, Chief Adviser, Interim Caretaker Government, Bangladesh; Former
Chairman, PKSF (Rural Employment Support Foundation); Former Governor, Bangladesh Bank
Monowara Hakim Ali: President, Chittagong Women Entrepreneurs Association
Angela Gomez, Founder and Executive Director, Banchte Shekha (Learning to Live), a non-
governmental organization for women’s empowerment based in Jessore, Bangladesh
Monjulika Chakma, notable entrepreneur; Proprietor of Bain Textile Company, Bangladesh
Geetara Safiya Choudhury, Adviser, Interim Caretaker Government, Bangladesh; Chairperson
and Managing Director, Adcomm Ltd, a leading advertising firm; Former President, Dhaka Club
Jamal Nazrul Islam, Professor and Director, Research Centre for Mathematical & Physical
Sciences, University of Chittagong
Mamun Rashid, CEO, Citibank (Bangladesh) Ltd. and Citigroup Country Officer
A.S.M. Shahjahan, Former Inspector General of Police, Bangladesh
Farooq Sobhan, President, Bangladesh Enterprise Institute; Former Foreign Secretary,
Bangladesh;
Former Deputy Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations

Steve Wilson, President, Chevron Bangladesh
Muhammad Yunus, Founder and Managing Director, Grameen Bank; Nobel Peace Laureate
2006
CONTRIBUTIONS TO AUW
In-Kind
The Hermine & David Heller Foundation Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky & Popeo $8 Million and above
$4 Million – $ 7,999,999
Below $10,000
$1 Million – $3,999,999
$500,000 – $999,999
The David & Lucile Packard Foundation $250,000 – $499,999
$100,000 – $249,999
$50,000 – $99,999
$25,000 – $49,999
$10,000 – 24,999
Susan & Fred Lodge Mary Margaret Mallet 1In-kind contribution of about $5 Million through Takashi Matsumoto donation of land for campus in Chittagong,

Source: http://www.experimenta.hk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/AUW_Short_Description.pdf