New private universities in the offing
Thursday, 26 May 2011
Mohammed Jashim Uddin
According to a recent report in a newspaper, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has recommended awarding licences to 11 new applicants willing to set up private universities. As many as 60 fresh applications were submitted. The UCG recommendations also include suggestions that all applicants would be expected to set up their own campuses outside Dhaka. It is however, not known whether they have been given a time-frame to move to their own premises or has it been left to their discretion. In the past, such universities started off with commitments to establish their own campuses, which were soon forgotten. Rather, they launched their activities from rented premises, often in dingy areas of the city, to be hardly considered suitable for higher-level academic activities. Over fifty private universities have sprung up in recent years. But how many out of them can be counted as truly appreciable institutions for both standards of education and ability to teach diverse disciplines of higher education? Only about half a dozen would fulfil such a criterion with the standards of the rest falling short in varying degrees in relation to the expectations and requirements. A high-power UGC committee formed earlier recommended closure of a number of those institutions for this reason. The committee also suggested that other private universities proving to be deficient, should be given a time-frame during which their managements must try to pull up standards failing which they would face penalties. This course needs to be pursued. As it is, most of the private universities have not overcome their deficiencies. However, it is not that the performances of all private universities have been disappointing; a number of them are imparting high standard education. The challenge is to improve standards in the remaining ones to give credible alternatives to students. The writer is a Dhaka based journalist and a columnist
According to a recent report in a newspaper, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has recommended awarding licences to 11 new applicants willing to set up private universities. As many as 60 fresh applications were submitted. The UCG recommendations also include suggestions that all applicants would be expected to set up their own campuses outside Dhaka. It is however, not known whether they have been given a time-frame to move to their own premises or has it been left to their discretion. In the past, such universities started off with commitments to establish their own campuses, which were soon forgotten. Rather, they launched their activities from rented premises, often in dingy areas of the city, to be hardly considered suitable for higher-level academic activities. Over fifty private universities have sprung up in recent years. But how many out of them can be counted as truly appreciable institutions for both standards of education and ability to teach diverse disciplines of higher education? Only about half a dozen would fulfil such a criterion with the standards of the rest falling short in varying degrees in relation to the expectations and requirements. A high-power UGC committee formed earlier recommended closure of a number of those institutions for this reason. The committee also suggested that other private universities proving to be deficient, should be given a time-frame during which their managements must try to pull up standards failing which they would face penalties. This course needs to be pursued. As it is, most of the private universities have not overcome their deficiencies. However, it is not that the performances of all private universities have been disappointing; a number of them are imparting high standard education. The challenge is to improve standards in the remaining ones to give credible alternatives to students. The writer is a Dhaka based journalist and a columnist