Returning to academia, Husain taught as visiting professor at Heidelberg University and Columbia University during the 1960s. He served as vice-chancellor of Dhaka University from 1960 to 1963, and of Karachi University from 1967 until his death in 1975. A proponent of greater rights for East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, Husain emerged a vocal but unsuccessful critic of Pakistan's military action in 1971.