Ranking of universities

A few days ago, London based research magazine the Times Higher Education published the ranking of top 400 universities in Asia for 2019. It is shocking that not a single Bangladeshi university was found in the ranking, even though universities of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal were in the list.

The ranking was done mainly taking into consideration such factors as teaching, research, knowledge transfer, international outlook etc.

The topmost universities have the chance to attract the best and meritorious students, researchers and academics globally.

The funding for research for our universities is very negligent. Teaching method in university classes is very traditional and appointment to top positions of most of the universities is done on political grounds and loyalty.

Every year, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has to submit an annual report to the President, after evaluating the performance of all universities. But it probably does not submit any performance ranking report.

If ranking of the universities is done by the UGC, the performance of universities may improve through increased competition.

I would like to urge the government to initiate university ranking in Bangladesh through the UGC. Certainly, it can improve the performance of local universities, enabling them to go toe-to-toe against Asian and regional institutions.

Md Zillur Rahaman

Satish Sarker Road

Gandaria, Dhaka

[email protected]