Why foreign lands beckon students

With the apparent boom in private sector university education in the country the rush for study overseas has ebbed considerably. But students going abroad to pursue their higher studies has continued.

Many would like to call the situation highly ominous, as the number of students setting out for studies abroad has been on an unabated rise. In last few years, thousands of students at higher-secondary and university levels have left the country to pursue their studies at overseas universities. According to a FE report published in late July, a total of 29,484 students left the country for higher education from 2010 to 2014. The number doesn't bode well for the country's education sector, as it pointedly alludes to the much-dreaded scourge of 'brain drain'. Apart from the higher education sector, this also leaves a debilitating impact on the country's job market, entrepreneurship and, eventually, the economy. There is a highly distressing aspect involved in this education-related expedition. Most of the career-conscious students land jobs in foreign lands after finishing their studies. They do not bother to return home which they find insecure in many respects.

Since independence in 1971, thousands of students have left Bangladesh to enrol in foreign universities. Most of them could manage to settle down in foreign lands after getting jobs. Few came back home. Thanks to the irregularities detected by some countries receiving students from the developing nations, and the subsequent stringent rules, the rush for overseas studies began thinning out at one stage. Had not an embargo of sorts been in place in many countries, prompted by geopolitical reasons, we would have seen a wholesale brain drain from Bangladesh.

The latest resumption of the rush for overseas studies lays bare the sorry state of education at our universities. The tuition fees at public universities are nominal compared to that at the ubiquitous private ones. To the students from middle and lower-middle classes, the private universities are fast becoming a mirage due to the expenses involved. The cost of completing a Bachelor's course at these universities ranges from around Tk 0.5 million to Tk 2.0 million depending on the subjects and the standard of the university concerned.  To everybody's disillusionment, most of these universities fare below par when it comes to imparting the extent of education required by the students. Many middle class families spend big amounts of money for educating their children at a foreign university. The sum ranges between Tk 1.0 million and Tk 3.0 million.

The students face a difficult choice. With the public universities remaining virtually unreachable owing to their limited number of seats, the private ones keep their doors wide open for students. They get admitted there. At the end of the day, the distraught and financially devastated students are made to lament their wasted youth. The bitter reality applies to most of the universities run privately in the country, barring a few others that stand out with their brilliant academic performance.

That the exodus of our undergraduate students is primarily prompted by a miserable lack of opportunities to pursue quality higher studies at home cannot be over-emphasised. Academics involved with the universities and the monitoring bodies have repeatedly pointed it out. But the authorities concerned, who matter the most, feign ignorance. It may prove to be disastrous for the nation's progress in the long run.

shihabskr@ymail.com