Enrolment condition in private universities

As private universities occupy a significant portion of our higher education, quality of education in these universities sometimes makes the newspaper headlines. Now we cannot afford to think of the field of higher education without giving an important consideration towards private universities. It is for their timely emergence and contribution to this field with academic sessions free of session jam and their effort of providing the learners with twenty-first century skills which many of our public universities cannot. But the reports which appear sometimes regarding private universities make us worried. The University Grants Commission has revealed a finding that some forty-two percent seats for students in graduate and postgraduate programmes remain vacant at private universities. The annual report of the university regulatory body reveals that all 60 private universities were able to enrol only 1,11,944 students against the total 1,90,646 seats last year. A total of 50,932 seats in graduate and 29,469 in post graduate programmes remained vacant as the institutions failed to enrol students against the total capacity. Educationists observe that the institutions, which cannot ensure quality and rather indulge in selling certificates in the name of providing higher education are failing to enrol sufficient students. "The statistics are not applicable to the institutions which maintain quality. It's true some universities are doing certificate selling business without ensuring quality, "commented  Professor Abu Saleh, Vice-Chancellor of Bangladesh University  of Business and Technology.
In the era of information technology, people are well-informed of the quality of every private university. Students never get enrolled in those universities which fail to maintain quality education. Professor Saleh urged the government to keep a strong vigil on low-performing universities for the sake of ensuring quality in higher education. "The number of students will increase in private universities in future if they ensure quality education in line with the Private Universities Act. Some universities which have already earned some fame in the field of higher education also failed to allure pupils to get enrolled leaving many of their seats vacant. A picture of this situation tells the truth and makes us think of the future of private universities.  The seat capacity at East West University was 5100 in 2012, but it was able to enrol only 2646 students. BRAC University  got 2300 students against its seat capacity of 3730. University of Development Alternative (UODA) was able to enrol only 1687 pupils against 4965 seats during the same period (source: Daily Sun 27 December,  2013). The scenario is more or less the same at some universities like South East, Bangladesh University, Gono Biswabidyalaya, City University, Premier University and Stamford University. Some private universities have already shifted to their own beautiful campuses aligning with the rules of UGC though the scarcity of land in the country calls for further consideration of enforcing this rule.
An established fact claims no other proof that higher studies without research remain incomplete. But a number of our private universities don't think  it necessary to spend  money on research though it remains one of the significant objectives of higher studies. UGC report shows that 15 out of 60 private universities did not spend any money on research activities in 2012 and had no allocation for it. On the other hand, on an average 45 private universities had spent only Tk 91.18 lakh on research in 2012 which just show a poor picture of higher education provided by the private universities. Education in highest seats of learning does not mean only classroom teaching or bookish knowledge or just giving a certificate on business administration which many private universities do.  When the highest seat of learning does not attach any importance or allocate any money on research, it is neither acceptable nor permissible. What makes  secondary, higher secondary and tertiary level of education different from each other? Research makes it different. Only classroom teaching -learning cannot ensure the quality and merit of higher learning. Now time is ripe enough for our private universities to give a serious thought to this point as it is one of the basic conditions of higher education.
The ongoing political unrest and agitation have further deteriorated the enrolment situation in these universities. A good number of  students are admitted into the private universities every year. This year however, the whole process has gone into tailspin with the seemingly endless political strife. Though private universities have managed to take their admission tests on Fridays and have enrolled students, still the situation may be worse than the present figure projected by the University Grants Commission.
 Masum Billah is Program Manager at BRAC Education Programme and Vice-President, Bangladesh English Language Teachers Association (BELTA),
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