Ctg emerges as a draw for ME students

Bangladesh finds itself at an unusual juncture in the global higher education landscape. Whilst the country sends tens of thousands of its own students abroad each year, a quieter and less-discussed trend is taking shape in the port city of Chattogram, where a growing number of foreign students, particularly those from the Middle East and Central Asia, are choosing to pursue their degrees. The reversal is modest but meaningful, and it arrives at a moment when Bangladesh can ill afford to ignore the opportunity.

The scale of Bangladesh's outbound student flow puts the inbound picture in sharp relief. According to UNESCO data, a total of 52,799 Bangladeshi students travelled overseas for higher education in 2023, with the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Malaysia among the preferred destinations. By the 2023-2024 academic year, more than 17,000 Bangladeshi students were enrolled in American institutions alone, a 26 per cent rise from the previous year, catapulting Bangladesh from the 13th to the 8th largest sender of international students to the United States within a single year. The contrast with inbound numbers is stark. According to a University Grants Commission report, only 1,949 foreign students were enrolled in Bangladeshi universities in 2019, a figure that had already fallen from the year prior, with the UGC attributing the decline to a lack of facilities, weak promotional efforts and a cumbersome admissions process. Peer countries tell a very different story. India has witnessed a 42 per cent increase in foreign student enrolment in recent years, drawing learners from over 175 countries to its universities and colleges, with the country's longer-term ambition being to host 500,000 foreign students by 2047. Bangladesh's capacity to attract inbound students remains comparatively underdeveloped, making the emergence of Chattogram as a destination of note all the more significant.

At the centre of this shift is the Asian University for Women (AUW), which stands apart from the broader higher education landscape in Bangladesh. The institution offers a liberal arts and sciences curriculum modelled along American lines, draws students from approximately 20 countries across Asia and the Middle East, and accepts enrolees from widely varying economic and cultural backgrounds. It is also the first fully independent regional university in Asia dedicated exclusively to the higher education and leadership development of women. Where most Bangladeshi universities emphasise technical preparation over broader intellectual formation, AUW has carved out a distinct identity by prioritising critical thinking, research capacity and cross-disciplinary learning, qualities that translate well across borders.

For many of its students, the financial dimension is decisive. Shayza Gul Ahmadi, a former AUW student from Afghanistan, explained the appeal directly, "As most of the families can't afford the cost for their son/daughter for higher studies abroad, AUW offers full scholarship to them with international education quality which is the main factor to attract the students." She added that the security environment also mattered, "The security system of Chattogram is also well and the people here are very much kind which are other key factors." For young women from parts of the Middle East and Central Asia where conflict, institutional fragility or restricted freedoms limit what domestic education can offer, a scholarship-funded place at a university with an American academic framework represents a considerable opportunity at negligible personal cost.

The professional development dimension is equally important in drawing students from unstable regions. AUW supplements its academic curriculum with graduate training programmes addressing both local and global issues, equipping students with the kind of contextual fluency that employers and postgraduate institutions in wealthier countries increasingly demand. Ethan J Goldbach, a former English language instructor at AUW, captured the essential point concisely, "AUW draws the attention of many foreign students because it provides scholarships to them which help them to continue their studies here." The implication is broader, where Bangladesh cannot yet compete on the basis of global rankings or research prestige, it retains the capacity to compete on affordability, accessibility and the quality of the student experience it delivers to those who arrive.

Chattogram is not solely defined by AUW in this respect. The International Islamic University Chittagong also extends scholarship provision to international students, offering a combination of monthly stipends, residential accommodation and dedicated facilities for foreign enrolees. Some students receive fully funded places whilst others are supported through partial awards, and the university has invested in a specific residential hall for its international cohort. International University Chittagong has similarly attracted foreign students, with Somalian learners showing particular interest in its programmes. Taken together, the three institutions constitute a modest but growing ecosystem for international enrolment in the city, one that does not register significantly in national statistics as of now but reflects a real and expanding appetite.

Sara Razi, another Afghan alumna of AUW, offered a characteristically measured assessment of her time in Chattogram, "Though sometimes they felt some problems regarding transportation issues, but rest of the things were totally fine." It is a telling summary. Minor logistical frictions aside, the overall experience was evidently sufficiently positive to warrant recommendation, and the sentiment is broadly shared among the Middle Eastern student community that has found its way to the city. Parents, students noted, take comfort in Chattogram's general security record and in the receptiveness of its residents towards foreign visitors.

Dave Dowland, registrar of BRAC University, has outlined a framework of conditions that any Bangladeshi institution seeking to scale up its international reach would need to satisfy. Good marketing and promotion, a straightforward application process, the development of highly ranked universities with strong international linkages, scholarship availability, English-medium instruction, clear graduate employment outcomes and comfortable on-campus residential accommodation are among the factors he identified. He added that explaining the facilities available to foreign students in Bangladesh would itself be a meaningful step forward. Taken as a diagnostic, his criteria point to a gap that currently exists between what Chattogram's leading institutions are quietly achieving and what they are communicating to the wider world.

The window that Chattogram has opened remains narrow till now. The city's universities would benefit from more structured internationalisation strategies, stronger digital outreach to source countries and investment in the administrative infrastructure needed to process foreign applications efficiently. If those conditions are met and sustained, Chattogram carries a genuine prospect of evolving from a local curiosity into a recognised regional destination for students who need quality, security and financial support in equal measure.

tanjimhasan001@gmail.com