Helping the quality of higher education
Monday, 8 February 2010
There are two sides, basically, to improving higher education in Bangladesh. One involves expansion of educational opportunities or the quantitative factors. The other is the need for ensuring the quality of higher education. While the quantitative needs are lacking, the worse position is noted in terms of quality. Quality suffers from not having simply the sort of need-based educational institutions in sufficient number which are in high demand, violence in the campuses, the questionable standard of many of the private universities, etc.
Education opportunities in Bangladesh, specially opportunities for higher education, technical education and specialised education, are rather limited. This again is causing a drain of the country's precious forex reserve as many thousands of Bangladeshi students go abroad every year for higher education, quality education or specialised education. This outflow of the student population and their draining of the country's resources can be effectively stopped with the establishment of high class institutions of higher or specialised learning in the country. Investments in this market so far have been far less than what are necessary but the same have huge prospects. Medical colleges and universities, engineering colleges and universities, polytechnics, various types of skill building or training institutes, etc., if set up and operated in the country with high standard, would very likely be successful business in terms of the number of students taking admission in them and the fees charged from the students. The fees of such institutions could be higher compared to such institutions in the public sector. But the fees and other costs would likely be less than the ones spent on studying abroad and this would be an incentive for our students to get themselves admitted in such institutions in large number.
Most of the over 50 private universities operating in Bangladesh are considered to be imparting education that leave a lot desired in the qualitative sense. The government should encourage the growth of private centres of higher education. But it must be much more serious about its regulatory functions. The formation of an accreditation council to rate the private universities for their standard and to disseminate its findings to students and guardians, is badly needed. The University Grants Commission (UGC) on its part should no more be lenient in persuading the non-compliant private universities in relation to the standards that have been set by it . It can, at most, give a shorter deadline to these institutions to improve standards or face the termination of their licenses to operate.
Normal classes and examinations of the public universities all over the country are frequently found to be suspended from campus violence which in turn is caused by allowing students as well as the teachers to engage in politics. Thus, the general students are put through sufferings like session jams or unnecessary extension of their years of studentship, inability to sit for competitive and other exams in time from not being able to complete their academic courses to become eligible to qualify for these jobs, etc.
Can a country such as Bangladesh afford such misuse of resources and suffer education gaps ? The issue of student politics needs to be settled decisively by a consensus among the stakeholders namely the political parties, the students, the governing bodies of the public universities and the governmental authorities. The same should lead to effective curbs or controls on student politics for the sake of quality education in the higher seats of learning.
Education opportunities in Bangladesh, specially opportunities for higher education, technical education and specialised education, are rather limited. This again is causing a drain of the country's precious forex reserve as many thousands of Bangladeshi students go abroad every year for higher education, quality education or specialised education. This outflow of the student population and their draining of the country's resources can be effectively stopped with the establishment of high class institutions of higher or specialised learning in the country. Investments in this market so far have been far less than what are necessary but the same have huge prospects. Medical colleges and universities, engineering colleges and universities, polytechnics, various types of skill building or training institutes, etc., if set up and operated in the country with high standard, would very likely be successful business in terms of the number of students taking admission in them and the fees charged from the students. The fees of such institutions could be higher compared to such institutions in the public sector. But the fees and other costs would likely be less than the ones spent on studying abroad and this would be an incentive for our students to get themselves admitted in such institutions in large number.
Most of the over 50 private universities operating in Bangladesh are considered to be imparting education that leave a lot desired in the qualitative sense. The government should encourage the growth of private centres of higher education. But it must be much more serious about its regulatory functions. The formation of an accreditation council to rate the private universities for their standard and to disseminate its findings to students and guardians, is badly needed. The University Grants Commission (UGC) on its part should no more be lenient in persuading the non-compliant private universities in relation to the standards that have been set by it . It can, at most, give a shorter deadline to these institutions to improve standards or face the termination of their licenses to operate.
Normal classes and examinations of the public universities all over the country are frequently found to be suspended from campus violence which in turn is caused by allowing students as well as the teachers to engage in politics. Thus, the general students are put through sufferings like session jams or unnecessary extension of their years of studentship, inability to sit for competitive and other exams in time from not being able to complete their academic courses to become eligible to qualify for these jobs, etc.
Can a country such as Bangladesh afford such misuse of resources and suffer education gaps ? The issue of student politics needs to be settled decisively by a consensus among the stakeholders namely the political parties, the students, the governing bodies of the public universities and the governmental authorities. The same should lead to effective curbs or controls on student politics for the sake of quality education in the higher seats of learning.