At a time when the country's education-higher education in particular, has come under the scanner, the Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings 2015 are made public. Not a single higher seat of learning from Bangladesh could make it to the top 100 such educational institutions. China overtakes Japan with 21 world-class universities -up from previous year's 18, whereas the last time's and tradition topper slipping to second place with 19 -- one fewer than last year's. India lags behind with nine such elite educational facilities.
To its credit, Japan still boasts the number one university in the continent. But then Chinese universities from the mainland occupy fourth and fifth places. Add to it the universities from its special administrative region, it is an impressive achievement. As many as six universities from Hong Kong-of which two are in the top 10 -- and one from Macao make it to the list of top 50. Together, mainland China and its special administrative region then have 28 such institutions for higher education in the list of top 100.
In the global ranking, though, the number one university of Asia, the University of Tokyo comes down to 23rd position. Actually, the universities of the United States of America dominate the world rankings. Although the United Kingdom, once the centre of excellence in higher education, is still represented by the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge, they have been dislodged from their premier positions by the California Institute of Technology and the Harvard University.
Highly surprising is the fact that French universities fall far behind in the global ranking. So do the German higher seats of learning. Although Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich figures at 29th position, France has its representation not before the 78th place in the global ranking. Singapore has earned a niche both in the Asian and global statuses with number two and 25th positions respectively.
Now this is exactly at this point Bangladesh's weakness in higher education is woefully exposed. Once the University of Dhaka was lovingly called the Oxford of the East. Admittedly, those days are over for the country's premier higher seat of learning. But then the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) has consistently been producing world-class scholars who have outshined in many cases their peers from the top universities in the USA and elsewhere. Why cannot that university earn a place even among the top 100 of the rankings?
In the answer to this question lies a bitter truth. The truth concerns something rarely made an issue of. Only the other day Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid feebly tried to give voice to this problem. His contention was nowhere in the world so much is achieved in terms of education with so little investment. So far as raw talent is concerned, Bangladesh has no short supply. It is the lack of system and facilities that actually stand as a daunting challenge before harnessing talent.
To be more to the point, a review of the criteria on which the ranking of a university is based may be very useful. The Asia rankings, like their global counterparts, use 13 performance indicators to examine a university's strengths against its core missions-teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. The 13 indicators are well calibrated, according to the Times Higher Education, in order to have a comprehensive and balanced comparison-one that is trusted by students, academics, university leaders, industry and governments.
That it is time for a paradigm shift in education from quantity to quality has lately dawned on almost all involved with education and its policy formulation. An investment of less than five per cent of the gross national product (GDP) in education is much too scanty. The allocation in the national budget on the education head mostly goes to payment of the staff salary. Even the infrastructure is left unattended. Funds for research and development are hard to come by.
In the USA, industries collaborate with research and innovation projects undertaken by university teachers and scholars. Here no such tradition has as yet developed, although lately a few isolated initiatives have been taken in this direction. But those are far from adequate. Unless full-fledged and state-of-the-art laboratories are established at universities, science and technology cannot witness discoveries and invention. One common complaint is that developing countries have little resources for carrying out research in basic science.
In reply to this, let it be made clear that geneticist Maqsudul Alam came to the land of his birth when the country's prime minister made the required fund available for establishing a most advanced laboratory for sequencing the jute genome or the plant's life cycle. Similar initiatives can work wonder if expatriate Bangladeshi scientists and researchers and technologists are asked to return home and set up research facilities at universities here.
The need is to take a long view of the country's research base where science geniuses will put in their very best. Agriculture is one area where things have made phenomenal progress. That the country is now self-reliant in foods owes to the tireless works of the agricultural scientists. Now this has to be taken to other areas, particularly the information and communication technology where there is no need for big investment. Both the government and private sector should finance research and development at universities in order to reap benefits for all. Rankings for universities will then follow as a natural consequence.
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