Bangladesh has over 160 public and private universities. But their failure in securing a respectable position in global university rankings has long been frustrating for us. Four Bangladeshi universities -- Brac University, University of Dhaka, Jahangirnagar University and North South University -- have managed to make it to the 800-1000 bracket in the recent World University Rankings 2024, released by Times Higher Education (THE). Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Rajshahi University, Khulna University and Shahjalal University of Science and Technology confirmed a position in the 1201-1500 bracket this year. It is, however, unfortunate that no university from our country could secure a position to this year's top 800, which includes 24 Indian universities and eight Pakistani universities.
If we want more of our universities to make their presence felt in the international arena, we must increase the number of teachers in our universities as well as commit more research fund for them. 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.
Abu Elias Linkon,
Banasree, Dhaka,
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