The government is going to sign an agreement with the World Bank (WB) worth Tk 20.54 billion tomorrow (Monday) to support the country's tertiary education.
"Negotiation between the government and the global bank has concluded", Prof AK Azad Chowdhury, chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC), said.
He added that the agreement is the extension of the WB funded project styled Higher Education Quality Enhancement Project (HEQEP) which was inked in 2009 for five years.
"The WB has expressed great pleasure over the implementation process of the ongoing projects under the HEQEP scheme resulting in further extension of its financial support" the professor said
Talking to the Financial Express in the sidelines of a programme Prof Chowdhury said that of the total amount the government of Bangladesh will provide Tk 2.63 billion while the WB will provide the remaining amount under its soft-loan facilities.
He said that the global bank has agreed to provide the money at 0.7 per cent interest with a repayment time of 40 years and another ten years as grace period.
Terming the monetary loan as an excellent opportunity for Bangladesh, the commission chairman said for the first time the higher education sector will get such a supportive fund for quality assurance.
The professor said the Monday's agreement will be a landmark for the country's tertiary education that has been suffering from serious financial shortage. He said that the components under the agreement will be implemented gradually by next five years.
Earlier, the global bank had inked deal with the government for five-year plan under the HEQEP scheme worth Tk 6.81 billion to support around 200 projects under the university's regulatory body.
Prof Chowdhury said that this fund will be added to the regular fund of the government resulting additional fund for education and research purpose.
He said that although, the country's position is third in Asian countries after China and India in terms of tertiary level students, regrettable quality of education is very frustrating.
The World Bank's supported project will include total five components of the tertiary education-Academic Innovation Fund (AIF), Building Institutional Capacity of the Tertiary Education Sector, Raising Connectivity Capacity in the Higher Education, Establishment of Quality Assurance Mechanism and Project Management, Communication and Monitoring and Evaluation.
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