 Nurul Alam Chowdhury was born on 21 May 1945 in a village of Fatikchhari Upazila of Chittagong District, Gopalghata to Matiur Rahman Chowdhury and Waijunnesa Chowdhury.He received his secondary education at Chittagong Muslim High School and Chittagong College, where he was inducted into politics for the first time.He graduated from Chittagong University in history and received his Master's from the same university in 1969; he was part of the first group of post-graduate students.