The American Institute of Bangladesh Studies (AIBS) is an association of institutions of higher learning in the United States aimed at promoting scholarly understanding between Bangladesh and the United States. AIBS was incorporated in 1988. Funding in local currency began in 1989 through a formal agreement between the Institute and the Government of Bangladesh. Dollar funding was instituted in 1993 from the United States Government through the Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC).

The principal objective of AIBS is to promote educational exchange at the advanced level between the scholarly communities of the United States and Bangladesh. AIBS provides senior and junior fellowships as well as pre-dissertation grants. Other programs include research and development seminars and workshops offered by U.S. faculty for improving the educational sector in Bangladesh, and an undergraduate research grant for U.S. students to visit Bangladesh and observe first-hand the problems facing a developing country. A final program permits Bangladeshi scholars to visit the United States for joint research projects with U.S. scholars. Since AIBS’ inception, affiliated scholars have investigated a wide range of research topics in fields including but not limited to demography, politics, sustainable development, bureaucracy, anthropology, history, gender and minority studies, religion, rural and urban migration as well as banking and religion.