In need of all relevant data from private universities
Dr. Jamir Chowdhury | Sunday, 10 August 2008
IT is good to know that Northern University Bangladesh (NUB) is doing a good job in providing education to our young in various sectors. The university administration acknowledges that it has limited facilities. It has stated that it is attracting a good number of new students every year. The statement provided by the university is informative and very good, but not enough to accept it (statement) that it is fulfilling its mission. In order to make it easy, I changed the NUB's statement published in newspapers, to question format as follows:
1) Is the quality of education on Rajshahi and Khulna campuses similar or equal to that of Dhaka? If yes, do you have the data to prove it?
2) Can the NUB provide enough data to support the statement that NUB has a sufficient number of skilled and experienced faculty members, necessary educational equipment and other facilities?
3) Can the NUB provide data to prove that it fulfils its mission by providing quality education?
4) Does the NUB provide any evidence (using data and study) that it is contributing to socio-economic development of the country as well as its people?
5) Can the NUB provide with enough data that NUB's educational costs to general students and people are affordable?
In order to answer some or all of the questions or statements, I would request the NUB to show all or some of the following data elements to the students, parents, the public, and UGC to fulfil its obligations to its stakeholders:
a. Number of total students by classification (FR, SO, JR, SR), by semester by gender and year (trend analysis for last five years);
b. Average/aggregate scores of students in high school and college or percentile ranking (trend analysis for last five years);
c. Number of students applied, enrolled and registered (trend analysis for last five years);
d. Number of faculty by year by gender (trend analysis for last five years);
e. Number of faculty with doctoral degree (trend analysis for last five years);
f. Faculty salary by rank, full-time, part-time, gender (trend analysis for last five years);
g. Faculty load data (total number of hours/courses teach), publications, presentation and committee work;
h. Student/ faculty ratio (trend analysis for last five years);
i. Average class size by classification (trend analysis for last five years);
j. Percent of graduates got a job offer within six months of graduation, in the field of study (trend analysis);
k. Instructional costs in percentage, of the total budget (trend analysis for last five years);
l. Lab facilities (science and other labs);
m. Any developmental or remedial educational courses offered/faculties;
n. Results from students satisfaction survey on various services (cafeteria, housing, transportation, sports and recreation facilities, Technology/internet, wireless connections, books and materials, counseling, advising, tutoring, special Needs, clubs, debate, and other services as needed by the students);
o. Results from employer satisfaction survey about the quality of graduates;
p. Results from students' faculty-course evaluation survey;
q. Results from any student engagement survey showing the quality of learning (pre and post survey);
r. Results from alumni, senior and EXIT surveys to show that NUB's graduates received quality education;
s. Student background data;
t. Parents education and income data; and
u. Data from environmental scanning
All of the private and public universities must be transparent and accountable to students, parents, the public, the UGC and all its stakeholders. Data relating to student, faculty, HR finance and other relevant areas, collected through survey and focus groups need to be published regularly and consistently to demonstrate the evidence that each institution fulfills its obligation.
Since 1987, the writer has taught and worked in a number of institutions in the U.S. He is currently working as the Director of Institutional Research and Data warehouse at Qatar University, Doha, Qatar and can be reached at e-mail: americamyland@gmail.com or jchowdhury@qu.edu.qa.
1) Is the quality of education on Rajshahi and Khulna campuses similar or equal to that of Dhaka? If yes, do you have the data to prove it?
2) Can the NUB provide enough data to support the statement that NUB has a sufficient number of skilled and experienced faculty members, necessary educational equipment and other facilities?
3) Can the NUB provide data to prove that it fulfils its mission by providing quality education?
4) Does the NUB provide any evidence (using data and study) that it is contributing to socio-economic development of the country as well as its people?
5) Can the NUB provide with enough data that NUB's educational costs to general students and people are affordable?
In order to answer some or all of the questions or statements, I would request the NUB to show all or some of the following data elements to the students, parents, the public, and UGC to fulfil its obligations to its stakeholders:
a. Number of total students by classification (FR, SO, JR, SR), by semester by gender and year (trend analysis for last five years);
b. Average/aggregate scores of students in high school and college or percentile ranking (trend analysis for last five years);
c. Number of students applied, enrolled and registered (trend analysis for last five years);
d. Number of faculty by year by gender (trend analysis for last five years);
e. Number of faculty with doctoral degree (trend analysis for last five years);
f. Faculty salary by rank, full-time, part-time, gender (trend analysis for last five years);
g. Faculty load data (total number of hours/courses teach), publications, presentation and committee work;
h. Student/ faculty ratio (trend analysis for last five years);
i. Average class size by classification (trend analysis for last five years);
j. Percent of graduates got a job offer within six months of graduation, in the field of study (trend analysis);
k. Instructional costs in percentage, of the total budget (trend analysis for last five years);
l. Lab facilities (science and other labs);
m. Any developmental or remedial educational courses offered/faculties;
n. Results from students satisfaction survey on various services (cafeteria, housing, transportation, sports and recreation facilities, Technology/internet, wireless connections, books and materials, counseling, advising, tutoring, special Needs, clubs, debate, and other services as needed by the students);
o. Results from employer satisfaction survey about the quality of graduates;
p. Results from students' faculty-course evaluation survey;
q. Results from any student engagement survey showing the quality of learning (pre and post survey);
r. Results from alumni, senior and EXIT surveys to show that NUB's graduates received quality education;
s. Student background data;
t. Parents education and income data; and
u. Data from environmental scanning
All of the private and public universities must be transparent and accountable to students, parents, the public, the UGC and all its stakeholders. Data relating to student, faculty, HR finance and other relevant areas, collected through survey and focus groups need to be published regularly and consistently to demonstrate the evidence that each institution fulfills its obligation.
Since 1987, the writer has taught and worked in a number of institutions in the U.S. He is currently working as the Director of Institutional Research and Data warehouse at Qatar University, Doha, Qatar and can be reached at e-mail: americamyland@gmail.com or jchowdhury@qu.edu.qa.