Capital city off-limit to new private universities

It is better late than never. The education minister has finally admitted the exorbitant cost of pursuing higher studies in private universities located in the capital. He has announced that no new private university would henceforth be allowed to be established in the city. He has also spoken about the travails students coming from distant areas of the countries to study in private universities in Dhaka city go through. The limitations of public universities have been responsible to a great extent for the emergence and development of these private universities. The ministry of education, as the apex authority in education sector, is yet to execute fully its earlier directives on private universities.  
A good number of university campuses located in Dhanmondi, Mohakhali, Banani and Gulshan still run in defiance of the instruction from their original locations. The sad thing is that instead of instituting a neutral and high-level probe by eminent persons into the long list of irregularities unearthed by the Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB), the authorities were quick to dismiss the allegations outright. This will encourage the errant private universities to commit more irregularities.
The quality of education in most private universities -- barring six or seven  -- is already being questioned, even by guardians of their students. Falling quality can be attributed to lax monitoring and supervision by the University Grants Commission (UGC). The country certainly needs private universities outside the capital to accommodate a large number of students coming from rural areas to pursue higher studies. But then quality must prevail over quantity. If not, the students who would be graduating from these universities will only be a burden on the nation and add to the explosive unemployment in the country.
Happily, the minister has appreciated the benefits of having private universities at local levels. District-or upazila-level universities will surely reduce their maintenance cost and facilitate easy access of poor students to higher education at lower costs. It is thus encouraging that the government has decided to give importance to opening of new universities at local level. Applications seeking approval for setting up private universities at local levels, as the minister has assured all concerned, will be prioritised.
Keeping a tab on the affairs of private universities is the task of the UGC in order to ensure that such educational institutions at the highest level are run properly. In case of decentralisation of higher education, the Commission must be strengthened in a much bigger way. If the UGC regularly monitors their activities, the irregularities will be minimised. Through necessary regulations and actions, it may create an environment in which there will be a healthy competition among all private universities. In this way, the UGC and private universities can deliver the goods.
Notwithstanding their many limitations, the private universities have otherwise been playing an important role in disseminating and promoting higher education in Bangladesh. Since their emergence in 1990s, they have been an important and integral part of tertiary education in the country. Private universities as well as the students studying there, have, by now, outnumbered their counterparts in public universities. In the last two decades, they have flourished despite some glaring failures. They can probably play now an even better, positive and encouraging role if they are given proper government support in the form of policy guidance.