Shahjalal University of Science and Technology

Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, known as SUST, is a public university in Sylhet, in the north-east of Bangladesh. It was established in 1986 and its campus at Kumargaon covers about 320 acres, roughly 6 kilometres from the city centre.

Rankings

• Ulkaa Edu Rank 2027: position 8 overall and 8 among public universities. The position reflects Ulkaa's admission competitiveness assessment. In the subject tables SUST is 7 in business, 8 in computer science and engineering, and 8 in engineering.
• THE World University Rankings 2027: band 1201-1400. The 2024 edition showed 1201-1500.
• QS World University Rankings 2027: band 1401+ (the 2025 edition showed 1201-1400).
• QS Asia University Rankings 2026: 337 (342 in the 2025 edition).
• Webometrics 2024: 1896.

Each ranking uses its own indicators, so the figures are best compared within the same table and year.

Among Bangladeshi universities in each table, SUST is 13th in THE 2027, 6th in QS World 2027 and 8th in QS Asia 2026. Ulkaa's own scope is wider than those tables: it also compares public universities across subjects, using published admission and research data, and the full method is on Ulkaa as methodology 2027.1. SUST had two programmes in the Ulkaa catalogue for the 2027 edition, both BAETE-accredited engineering degrees.

SUST was established on 25 August 1986 in Sylhet. According to Wikipedia it was the first university in Bangladesh to adopt the American credit system and a pioneer of the integrated honours course, in which a student takes the bachelor's and master's stages as one planned sequence.

The university now has seven schools and 28 departments, plus links to affiliated medical colleges through its School of Medical Sciences.

The 2027 Ulkaa data count the university's first-year intake at 1,581 students in 2023, compared with 1,640 in 2021, which shows how stable its size has been over the last few admission cycles.

Admission is through competitive entrance examinations administered by the respective schools. Read the official SUST circular each year for the application window, eligibility, test dates and subject groups.

The published numbers show how selective the process is. In 2025 there were 1,566 seats and 75,095 applicants, or 49.1 applicants per seat. Wikipedia reports that in 2018-19 the university admitted 1,448 students from 76,068 applicants, an acceptance rate of 1.90 percent.

New admissions were 1,640 in 2021, 1,580 in 2022 and 1,581 in 2023, so the intake has been steady. Tuition and fee amounts are not listed here. Confirm them against the current official notice.

Teaching is organised into seven schools:

• Agriculture and Mineral Sciences
• Applied Sciences and Technology
• Life Sciences
• Management and Business Administration
• Medical Sciences
• Physical Sciences
• Social Sciences

The School of Applied Sciences and Technology is the largest group of engineering subjects. Its departments include architecture, chemical engineering and polymer science, civil and environmental engineering, computer science and engineering, electrical and electronic engineering, food engineering and tea technology, industrial and production engineering, mechanical engineering, petroleum and mining engineering, and software engineering.

The School of Physical Sciences covers chemistry, geography and environment, mathematics, physics, statistics and oceanography. The School of Social Sciences includes anthropology, Bangla, economics, English, political studies, public administration, social work and sociology. Life sciences offers biochemistry and molecular biology and genetic engineering and biotechnology.

Three programmes held BAETE accreditation in 2026. The Ulkaa catalogue names civil and environmental engineering and industrial and production engineering among them.

OpenAlex data record 4,122 works for the five years to 2025, with 39,346 citations, or about 9.5 per work. The OpenAlex h-index was 151 in 2026, and about 38 percent of the 2025 works had an international co-author.

By subject in the 2025 data, 407 works are in engineering, 385 in medicine, 274 in computer science and 220 in business. The mean citedness over two years was 3.97 in 2026.

Wikipedia notes that in 2017 SUST spent ৳137 million on research, which it describes as the highest research expenditure among Bangladeshi universities that year. The five-year publication count has risen each year from 2,731 in the period to 2021, through 3,206, 3,576 and 3,941, to the 2025 figure above.

The Kumargaon campus has a Central Library with a distinctive triangular shape and a Shahid Minar, alongside academic buildings and residential halls. Six main halls serve students: Shah Paran, Bijoy 24 (formerly Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Hall), Syed Mujtaba Ali, Shahid Jononi Jahanara Imam, Begum Sirajunnesa Chowdhury and Fatimatuz Zohra (formerly Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib Hall), the two renamed by the university syndicate in September 2025. Some students also live in external housing complexes.

UGC data for 2023 record 9,436 students and 580 teachers, 275 of whom held a PhD. That is about 16 students for each teacher. Student numbers were 10,011 in 2021 and 8,115 in 2022, so the totals can shift between years as batches graduate and new ones arrive.