Taking care of private universities for higher standard
Sunday, 13 June 2010
Husain Imam
Since early nineties there has been a phenomenal growth of private universities in Bangladesh. These universities play an important role in meeting the ever increasing demand of the corporate houses for graduates, especially BBAs and MBAs. But the quality of education in most of these universities, excepting a handful few, has always been a subject of criticism. In fact there are a lot of allegations against many of these institutions. When the allegation comes from no less important a person than the chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC), it cannot be taken lightly.
The most common allegation against them is that they operate more as business centers than as educational institutions. There are some where certificates, as a commodity, are sold in exchange of money. It is now heard more often than not that higher degrees in Bangladesh is a commodity saleable in malls in the garb of private universities.
It is alleged that some of these universities do not have even the permission of the government to operate as institutions to offer post-graduate degrees. Again, there are some so called universities where students need not necessarily attend classes or take tests. What they are required to do is pay the fees regularly and keep in contact with the university authorities through phones. The certificates will be at their doorsteps in due course of time.
These allegations may not be all true but, as various reports suggest, they are not all false either. There can be no denying that many of them are universities by name only. They do not meet the minimum criteria required for an educational institution, let alone a university. They do not have proper campus of their own. Nor do they have proper library, research laboratory or adequate number of full-time teaching staff. Many of the teachers are from the public universities serving here as part time lecturers.
At least five of these universities were banned in 2005 and several others warned or black listed for either disregarding rules and regulations or not being able to maintain a minimum standard of education, but to no effect. They are reported to be still operating their business with 'stay order' from the courts.
In sharp contrast to the socio economic conditions of the country, the tuition fees of these universities are very high. Only those who come from the wealthy families can afford the expenses. As against 31 public universities, there are now 52 private universities in the country where the families with average income have little or no access for their wards because of lack of financial ability.
It was heard some time back that the present government was interested in bringing about some sort of discipline in the running of these universities and improve the overall standard of higher education and to that end a bill was about to be tabled in the last session of parliament envisaging new stringent rules and regulations pertaining to running of universities under private sector. The rules include among others a uniform structure of tuition fees and salary of teachers and staff which will be in consistent with the socio economic conditions of the country.
The bill did not see the light of the day in the last session of parliament probably because of stiff resistance from the vested quarters. Education minister Nurul Islam Nahid had assured that the bill would be placed in parliament very soon. Hope this time it will be passed. When the private university bill was first introduced in 1992, it was not without some set rules and regulations and some conditions which the university authorities needed to comply with. Many of these universities did not or could not meet those conditions even after 10-12 years of their operation.
Take for example, the case of having a permanent campus. They were supposed to have campus of their own on a prescribed minimum area of land within five years of their existence. It has been almost two decades since then. How many of them have fulfilled that condition? The UGC or for that matter the government failed to take any action against the defaulters.
We hope that the present government will, for a change, be serious about the matter and do everything possible to bring about some discipline and uniformity in this sector. Once the private university amendment bill is passed, it must be implemented without fail. While introducing the bill, one has to, however, guard against too much of unnecessary restrictions or control which may impair the growth of universities in the private sector or belie the very concept of a university.
What we would like the government to ensure is that these universities flourish not as business houses but as real institutions of higher education accessible to the people from all walks of life. This is important not only for achieving an acceptable standard of higher education but also for creating a knowledge- based egalitarian society.
Another important factor is that in this age of advanced technology, if we have to compete with others around us either for jobs or business share in the global market, we need to establish many more universities in both public and private sector. If I am not wrong, number of institutions for higher education in the country is at the moment only 400 plus (both private and public combined). Even to reach Indian standard, which itself is well below the USA, Japan or European figure, we have to increase this number by 3 times from 400 to 1200. And if we talk in terms of per capita investment for higher education in Bangladesh, it is one third that of India and one thirtieth that of Malaysia.
The government ought to look into this matter in all earnestness and set a goal for investment in higher education which should match the demand of the day.
The writer is a retired merchant navy officer. He can be reached at E-mail: himam55@yahoo.co.uk
Since early nineties there has been a phenomenal growth of private universities in Bangladesh. These universities play an important role in meeting the ever increasing demand of the corporate houses for graduates, especially BBAs and MBAs. But the quality of education in most of these universities, excepting a handful few, has always been a subject of criticism. In fact there are a lot of allegations against many of these institutions. When the allegation comes from no less important a person than the chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC), it cannot be taken lightly.
The most common allegation against them is that they operate more as business centers than as educational institutions. There are some where certificates, as a commodity, are sold in exchange of money. It is now heard more often than not that higher degrees in Bangladesh is a commodity saleable in malls in the garb of private universities.
It is alleged that some of these universities do not have even the permission of the government to operate as institutions to offer post-graduate degrees. Again, there are some so called universities where students need not necessarily attend classes or take tests. What they are required to do is pay the fees regularly and keep in contact with the university authorities through phones. The certificates will be at their doorsteps in due course of time.
These allegations may not be all true but, as various reports suggest, they are not all false either. There can be no denying that many of them are universities by name only. They do not meet the minimum criteria required for an educational institution, let alone a university. They do not have proper campus of their own. Nor do they have proper library, research laboratory or adequate number of full-time teaching staff. Many of the teachers are from the public universities serving here as part time lecturers.
At least five of these universities were banned in 2005 and several others warned or black listed for either disregarding rules and regulations or not being able to maintain a minimum standard of education, but to no effect. They are reported to be still operating their business with 'stay order' from the courts.
In sharp contrast to the socio economic conditions of the country, the tuition fees of these universities are very high. Only those who come from the wealthy families can afford the expenses. As against 31 public universities, there are now 52 private universities in the country where the families with average income have little or no access for their wards because of lack of financial ability.
It was heard some time back that the present government was interested in bringing about some sort of discipline in the running of these universities and improve the overall standard of higher education and to that end a bill was about to be tabled in the last session of parliament envisaging new stringent rules and regulations pertaining to running of universities under private sector. The rules include among others a uniform structure of tuition fees and salary of teachers and staff which will be in consistent with the socio economic conditions of the country.
The bill did not see the light of the day in the last session of parliament probably because of stiff resistance from the vested quarters. Education minister Nurul Islam Nahid had assured that the bill would be placed in parliament very soon. Hope this time it will be passed. When the private university bill was first introduced in 1992, it was not without some set rules and regulations and some conditions which the university authorities needed to comply with. Many of these universities did not or could not meet those conditions even after 10-12 years of their operation.
Take for example, the case of having a permanent campus. They were supposed to have campus of their own on a prescribed minimum area of land within five years of their existence. It has been almost two decades since then. How many of them have fulfilled that condition? The UGC or for that matter the government failed to take any action against the defaulters.
We hope that the present government will, for a change, be serious about the matter and do everything possible to bring about some discipline and uniformity in this sector. Once the private university amendment bill is passed, it must be implemented without fail. While introducing the bill, one has to, however, guard against too much of unnecessary restrictions or control which may impair the growth of universities in the private sector or belie the very concept of a university.
What we would like the government to ensure is that these universities flourish not as business houses but as real institutions of higher education accessible to the people from all walks of life. This is important not only for achieving an acceptable standard of higher education but also for creating a knowledge- based egalitarian society.
Another important factor is that in this age of advanced technology, if we have to compete with others around us either for jobs or business share in the global market, we need to establish many more universities in both public and private sector. If I am not wrong, number of institutions for higher education in the country is at the moment only 400 plus (both private and public combined). Even to reach Indian standard, which itself is well below the USA, Japan or European figure, we have to increase this number by 3 times from 400 to 1200. And if we talk in terms of per capita investment for higher education in Bangladesh, it is one third that of India and one thirtieth that of Malaysia.
The government ought to look into this matter in all earnestness and set a goal for investment in higher education which should match the demand of the day.
The writer is a retired merchant navy officer. He can be reached at E-mail: himam55@yahoo.co.uk