The rising popularity of business education

The steady growth of Bangladesh economy and the expansion of the scope of business activities are contributing to the rising popularity and promotion of business education in the country. These contributing factors, of late, are helped by the supply of a huge pool of jobs by private organisations, scarcity of employment opportunity in the public sector and relatively lucrative job opportunities for business graduates.
Business education's share of the pie is increasing with every passing year taking away chunks from the shares of Humanities and Science education at Secondary, Higher Secondary, Bachelors and Post-Bachelors levels. Thus, there is a big challenge awaiting the public educational institutions to meet the growing demand for business education in the coming days. On the other hand, this growing demand for business education has created a big opportunity for the private educational institutions in the face of growing competition in the education sector.
The economy of Bangladesh is passing through a veritable growth momentum. The GDP (gross domestic product) growth rate of the country has shown resilience even in the midst of the latest global economic crisis and domestic political turbulence. Per capita income of the country has increased to US$ 1,044 in fiscal year (FY) 2012-2013 from US$ 848 in FY 2011-2012 that resulted in the improvement of standard of living of the people. This positive economic performance, along with the potential of the country, is attracting  globally reputed entrepreneurs to invest here.
In 2005, Jim O'Neill, former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management and chief economist at Goldman Sachs, included Bangladesh among the 'Next 11' countries that have the great potential to become some of the biggest economies in the world. Because of its geo-strategic location in the South Asian region, Bangladesh holds substantial importance for its neighbouring countries. Side by side, the country has the huge potential of becoming an economic powerhouse and a transit hub as well in the near future.
In the recent times, a number of large international companies have established their manufacturing facilities in Bangladesh, and many are in the pipeline. Every year, domestic firms are also expanding their businesses within the country and abroad. In reality, all these industrial and business ventures need a lot of business graduates yearly. Recently, nine new banks have got the permission to do business, and some of them have already started functioning in the country. The existing banks are expanding their branches outside the divisional cities. New entrepreneurs are coming up with creative business ideas. The pharmaceutical and the garments and textile industries are witnessing a boom. Small and medium industries are also growing in size and volume. All these businesses and organisations need business graduates to run their activities effectively and efficiently. Thus there is a huge demand for business graduates in the job market of Bangladesh.
The demand for business education in the country has for some time been showing an upward trend. Business education had to pass through tough times in its early phase. The enrolment of students at Secondary level business studies was very insignificant during 1998 and 1999. In 1998, only 7.0 per cent of total examinees appeared in the SSC (secondary school certificate) examinations from business studies (Commerce), whereas the rate was 60 per cent from Humanities and 33 per cent from Science. In 1999, this figure was limited to only 11 per cent from the business studies (Commerce). During that time, the picture of enrolment of students with Higher Secondary level from business studies was a little bit better than that of the Secondary level, but it was not remarkable. In HSC examinations of both 1998 and 1999, 16 per cent of the total examinees appeared from the business studies (Commerce) group, whereas about 65 per cent was from Humanities and 19 per cent from Science. This picture started changing gradually. From 1998 onwards, both the number and the percentage of students from business studies continued to increase at Secondary and Higher Secondary levels. Figure I and Figure II show the trends of the number and percentage of students who appeared in SSC and HSC examinations from business studies.
The figures depict a picture of upward trend in business education from 2000 to 2013 in terms of both number and percentage of candidates at Secondary and Higher Secondary levels. Nowadays, students are getting more interested in business studies than in Humanities and Science. The number and percentage of students appearing in SSC examination from Humanities and Science are showing a declining trend in the recent years. In 2013, out of the total students, 40 per cent from Humanities against 60 per cent in 1998 and 21 per cent from Science against 33 per cent in 1998 appeared in the SSC examination. In addition, a big chunk of students migrates from Humanities and Science to business studies (Commerce) at Higher Secondary or 'graduation' levels. Available and lucrative job opportunities for business graduates, along with failure of the students to get admitted to medical or engineering institutions, contribute to this migration at the 'graduate' level.
Female students are also showing increased interest in business education. The success of women entrepreneurs and enhanced women empowerment in business sectors is breaking the inertia of female students over studying business. Although a large number of schools, particularly girls' schools located in remote parts of the country, have yet to open business education for the interested students, these intuitions are gradually opening business studies departments to meet the growing demand for this particular education.
Days are not very far when all the educational institutions of the country will open business courses at Secondary level, and business education will outshine all the disciplines.
The writer is lecturer, Department of Marketing, Begum Rokeya
University, Rangpur.
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