After the partition of Bengal on 16 October 1905, Dhaka was made the capital and new provinces of East Bengal and Assam were created. As a result of the partition of Bengal, education in East Bengal improved the most. But the partition of Bengal was canceled on 12 December 1911 by a proclamation at the Delhi court on 1 November 1911. The tide of education that came to East Bengal as a result of the Partition of Bengal soon required the establishment of a university in Dhaka. With the cancellation of the Partition of Bengal, that possibility ended. On 21 January 1912, Lord Hardinge, Viceroy of India, visited Dhaka. During this visit, some leading figures of Dhaka met him and informed him of their loss due to the cancellation of the Partition of Bengal. To make up for this loss, he announced that he would recommend to the government the establishment of a university in Dhaka. In May 1912, the Nathan Committee was formed under the leadership of Barrister Robert Nathan to establish the University of Dhaka.
On the basis of the reports of 25 subcommittees of this committee, the Government of India set the outline for the proposed Dhaka University. The Secretary of India approved the report of the Nathan Committee in 1913. However, when the First World War broke out, the establishment of Dhaka University was hampered. In March 1918, Nawab Syed Nawab Ali Chowdhury of Dhanbari in Tangail called on the government to introduce the Dhaka University Bill immediately in the Imperial Legislative Council. In 1917, the Chancellor of Calcutta University, Lord Chelmsford, formed a committee to investigate the problems of Calcutta University. That commission was given the responsibility of giving advice about Dhaka University. The head of this commission was Michael Sadler. The Calcutta University Commission (Sadler Commission) recommended the establishment of a university in Dhaka. However, the commission did not support the Nathan Committee's proposal to make Dhaka University a government or state university. However, the law department of Dhaka College. Naresh Chandra Sengupta called full autonomy as the main force of the university.
TC Williams, a professor of political science and economics at the same college, demanded full independence of Dhaka University in economic matters. The Calcutta University Commission recommended that various residential halls be considered as units of Dhaka University instead of colleges in Dhaka city. Apart from this, the five-mile radius of the University Council House should also be considered as an area under the jurisdiction of Dhaka University. The Calcutta University Commission made thirteen recommendations for the establishment of the University of Dhaka, and they were adopted in the Indian Legislative Assembly in 1920, with some modifications. It was ratified by the then Governor General of India on 23 March 1920. One of the members of the Sadler Commission was the Academic Registrar of the University of London, P. J. Hartog. He was appointed Vice-Chancellor of Dhaka University on 1 December 1920. On July 1, 1921, Dhaka University officially started its activities.