Science and technology-based education in different disciplines
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
Prof. Lutfor Rahman
I am a teacher in a private university in the city in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. In the new semester, started in early July 2009, I have taken the responsibility of teaching Communication Engineering and Data Communications to the students of B.Sc. Engineering. I am also responsible for teaching Computing to the students of MBA. Most of my students are employed in private firms, government, semi-government or non- government organizations (NGOs). They have completed their four-year diploma courses in relevant subjects from private or government polytechnic institutes. Their classes, both theoretical and practical, start from 6 pm in the evening.
After attending office throughout the day students can hardly concentrate. As a senior professor with academic and industrial experience at home and abroad, I understand their psychology and their problems. In fact, this reminds me of my days when I used to work abroad in an electronic industry and attend classes in the evening.
Though the students work hard and spend so much money, they are happy that they have the scope for achieving a higher education degree, which was not possible even two decades ago for the diploma holders from the polytechnic institutes in Bangladesh. Now, they are more interested in the degree than anything else because a B.Sc. Engineering degree will enable them to get a better job or promotion in their work place. The situation is also same for the students of Business Administration.
It is a good sign that the rate of the students achieving higher education at different disciplines is increasing day by day. But the capacity of the universities is not enough to accommodate them all as more than half a million students are coming out every year, passing from the boards of general education, madrassahs and technical education. On the other hand, though everybody has the right to get education including higher education, in real practice, the rural students are seriously deprived of higher education. The reasons are very much related to distance, finance and time. Clearly speaking, most of the universities are located in Dhaka city or some divisional towns. For that, the guardians from rural communities cannot afford the expenses for their kids. Being engaged in some activities, many interested students from rural communities cannot spare time for higher education as well.
At the present age, higher education is encouraged in most countries in the world. Even in a country like Thailand, 50% of the students are getting the scope for higher education. The rate rises to 90% in the Republic of Korea. In this context, ensuring 100% tertiary-level education may not be enough, as the world is moving towards a complex and unknown direction. We observe various changes in almost each and every sector. Some changes are bringing welfare for the society but the others are creating unlimited problems that are very difficult to solve in traditional or local processes. Global intellectuals predict that only highly skilled and well-qualified scientists will be able to solve the problems that are being created globally due to abnormal growth of technology. As such, we need highly qualified and skilled manpower for solving these unwanted problems. Now we need to work out how to make higher education, particularly science and technology-based education, available to all in the urban as well as rural, including remote, areas.
Technology can make things possible that were not possible even 100 years ago. But any initiative will not work without the cooperation and assistance from the government. The developed countries have already taken initiatives and recently some African countries have also been trying to follow the suit. Recently two events, held in France at UNESCO headquarter and Maastricht in the Netherlands have made things clear. My participation at the Maastricht event gave me an immense opportunity to learn how to start the project of enabling higher education for all from any where in the world. The event also gave me opportunities to interact with some internationally noted talents and experts who made effective innovations for the whole world, which are now transforming the traditional campus-based lectures to home-based education.
If the project is started in Bangladesh, there will be only one university campus for administrative purposes like admission and examinations. As a senior citizen and an academic, I believe this project will be highly effective for Bangladesh for various reasons. The respective ministry and the authorities concerned are, therefore, suggested and requested to look into the matter as soon as possible.
The writer is the Founder VC of Science and Technology University in rural Bangladesh and he may be
contacted at email: lutfor@agni.com
I am a teacher in a private university in the city in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. In the new semester, started in early July 2009, I have taken the responsibility of teaching Communication Engineering and Data Communications to the students of B.Sc. Engineering. I am also responsible for teaching Computing to the students of MBA. Most of my students are employed in private firms, government, semi-government or non- government organizations (NGOs). They have completed their four-year diploma courses in relevant subjects from private or government polytechnic institutes. Their classes, both theoretical and practical, start from 6 pm in the evening.
After attending office throughout the day students can hardly concentrate. As a senior professor with academic and industrial experience at home and abroad, I understand their psychology and their problems. In fact, this reminds me of my days when I used to work abroad in an electronic industry and attend classes in the evening.
Though the students work hard and spend so much money, they are happy that they have the scope for achieving a higher education degree, which was not possible even two decades ago for the diploma holders from the polytechnic institutes in Bangladesh. Now, they are more interested in the degree than anything else because a B.Sc. Engineering degree will enable them to get a better job or promotion in their work place. The situation is also same for the students of Business Administration.
It is a good sign that the rate of the students achieving higher education at different disciplines is increasing day by day. But the capacity of the universities is not enough to accommodate them all as more than half a million students are coming out every year, passing from the boards of general education, madrassahs and technical education. On the other hand, though everybody has the right to get education including higher education, in real practice, the rural students are seriously deprived of higher education. The reasons are very much related to distance, finance and time. Clearly speaking, most of the universities are located in Dhaka city or some divisional towns. For that, the guardians from rural communities cannot afford the expenses for their kids. Being engaged in some activities, many interested students from rural communities cannot spare time for higher education as well.
At the present age, higher education is encouraged in most countries in the world. Even in a country like Thailand, 50% of the students are getting the scope for higher education. The rate rises to 90% in the Republic of Korea. In this context, ensuring 100% tertiary-level education may not be enough, as the world is moving towards a complex and unknown direction. We observe various changes in almost each and every sector. Some changes are bringing welfare for the society but the others are creating unlimited problems that are very difficult to solve in traditional or local processes. Global intellectuals predict that only highly skilled and well-qualified scientists will be able to solve the problems that are being created globally due to abnormal growth of technology. As such, we need highly qualified and skilled manpower for solving these unwanted problems. Now we need to work out how to make higher education, particularly science and technology-based education, available to all in the urban as well as rural, including remote, areas.
Technology can make things possible that were not possible even 100 years ago. But any initiative will not work without the cooperation and assistance from the government. The developed countries have already taken initiatives and recently some African countries have also been trying to follow the suit. Recently two events, held in France at UNESCO headquarter and Maastricht in the Netherlands have made things clear. My participation at the Maastricht event gave me an immense opportunity to learn how to start the project of enabling higher education for all from any where in the world. The event also gave me opportunities to interact with some internationally noted talents and experts who made effective innovations for the whole world, which are now transforming the traditional campus-based lectures to home-based education.
If the project is started in Bangladesh, there will be only one university campus for administrative purposes like admission and examinations. As a senior citizen and an academic, I believe this project will be highly effective for Bangladesh for various reasons. The respective ministry and the authorities concerned are, therefore, suggested and requested to look into the matter as soon as possible.
The writer is the Founder VC of Science and Technology University in rural Bangladesh and he may be
contacted at email: lutfor@agni.com