Professor Akhter Hussain graduated from the University of Dhaka in 1981 in Public Administration. He did his PhD from Panjab University, Chandigarh, India in 1986. He has been a faculty member for a number of years currently holding the position of a Professor and Chairman of the Department of Public Administration, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. He is also an Academic Advisor to the National Defense College. He served for three years as a Program Director/Specialist in the Continuing Education Center, Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand. He has a considerable research experience in broad areas of governance, public policy analysis, development administration and management.

Professor Akhter Hussain has been a consultant for agencies like The Asia Foundation, USAID, World Bank, DFID, Asian Development Bank, Danida, Sida, SDC, ILO UNOPS UNCHS, EC and UNDP. He also worked as consultant/researcher in a number of countries like, Thailand, Lao PDR, Cambodia, and Vietnam in the areas of policy analysis, administrative and local government reform and reorganisation, institution and human resources development, socio-economic issues and community participation.

He has published a number of research articles in different journals. He is a life Member of The Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi, India.