We have more than 160 public and private universities. But their failure in securing a respectable position in global university rankings has long been frustrating for educationists, teachers and students. This year, only three Bangladeshi universities found place at the top level of the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Asia University Ranking 2023. They are University of Dhaka (DU), Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) and North South University (NSU). In this latest ranking, the DU's position is 140th, BUET's 187th and NSU's 191st. However, it is shocking that not a single university from Bangladesh has managed to secure a place in the top 100 universities in the QS ranking.
QS Asia University Rankings is provided on the basis of five criteria including academic reputation, employer reputation, research citations per paper, H-index and International Research Network (by broad faculty area). If we want more of our universities to make their presence felt in the international arena, we must increase funding for research and the number of teachers in our universities. The minimum standard for the average teacher-student ratio at the global higher education level is 1:20; meaning that there should be one teacher for every 20 students. However, a recent report shows that most of our universities do not meet this standard. Another reason for Bangladeshi universities to fall behind in global rankings is that they face challenges to meet some of the criteria set by the ranking authorities The criteria include having foreign faculties, foreign students, and updated research publications, among others. If we can invest more in our university-level education, our universities can do better than they perform in global rankings.
Staying in top slots of the rankings is a matter of prestige for a university, which attracts the best minds of the world to study and teach in that particular university. We hope the authorities concerned will soon formulate a process so that our universities do not lag behind the world standard. We can follow some constructive measures. The authorities should concentrate on quality of universities by ensuring their research and publication including other criteria like teacher-student ratio, budget per student, infrastructure facility, technological update, library and research facilities.
Abu Elias Linkon,
Banasree, Dhaka,
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