The existence of private universities in Bangladesh is now a visual reality. Our memory dates back to 1992, when our country saw eleven public universities.
Dr. M. Alimullah Mia started a movement titled ‘Non-Government University Movement’ while visiting the University of Kansas, USA and shared his idea with around a hundred teachers and educationists, who gave him a green signal to go ahead. It was followed by his proposal to the Ministry of Education in 1991 to establish private universities in Bangladesh.
Then, the government accepted the proposal, analysing its merits and demerits. In 1992, the first private university named North South formally started its journey, which was inaugurated on February 10 1993, by Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia.
A few more private universities in Bangladesh were established in a span of twelve years. According to this account, our private universities’ history spans 32 years since their establishment.
Late Syed Abul Maksud, the noted columnist, penned an interesting paper in a Bangla daily on September 17, 2019, entitled, “What is this Model in the Country of the Role Model.” His article intelligently focused on two issues.
One was related to the Times magazine’s higher educational ranking with the unfortunate position of the University of Dhaka, and the other to the mushrooming growth of higher education. Bangladesh could earn a reputation in world history as the country that accomplished the mission of establishing many universities in the shortest possible time.
Higher educational institutions should enable the general public to get higher education as they do with medical treatments. The villagers would be proud to see universities at their doorsteps. From the critical point of view, does it highlight the aims and objectives of higher education?
What about our primary, secondary and higher secondary education scene? Can we claim that they have stood on a moderate footing, let alone a strong one? In this perspective, how can we want to see universities like primary schools around our home?
What is the current stance on establishing further private universities in Bangladesh when it already has 115? The establishment of universities should be based on specific, rigid criteria that fulfil the education system’s internal and external consistency requirements.
The authorities should not permit the establishment of private universities in Bangladesh under political pressure. Instead, the government should immediately constitute a committee to undertake a rationalisation exercise to check the viability of a few universities based on specific criteria.
The two policy options may be either stopping the academic activity or attempting to merge a few viable units into one unit. It is incumbent on educational policy planners to save time and money for the student community and avoid a future catastrophe in the higher education arena.
The narratives of private universities in Bangladesh now include success, challenges and failures together! Reports show us that more than 50 per cent of the seats of many private universities in Bangladesh remain vacant, particularly those outside Dhaka city.
The worst allegations sometimes surface against some private universities in Bangladesh as certificate-selling centers that utterly demean the status of higher education and develop a seriously negative story against such private universities. Ill-equipped academic programs, absence of qualified full-time faculty, and deficient infrastructures plagued some private universities in Bangladesh.
The plagues of private universities in Bangladesh can broadly be categorised in three ways: the conflict among the trusty board members, non-availability of time befitting curriculum to satisfy the needs of the time, poor infrastructure and some universities’ frantic attempt to turn into business entrepreneurs.
We know that the trusty boards have decided to employ teachers and officials of the universities and develop curricula and syllabi. However, the conflict among the members hampers academic and research work. Most universities do not have up-to-date library facilities.
The attitude of becoming only commercial hubs has two negative implications, such as less emphasis on academic and research affairs and enrolling students with no eligibility to study a particular discipline. In the past two or three years, the government has imposed VAT on private university students, further burdening the universities’ financial aspects.
Some universities charge higher tuition fees from the students to meet this situation. The decision of the government might explain as the elite students study in private universities in Bangladesh, they must pay for receiving higher education to the government that is not reasonable and the case is not the same as many middle class and lower middle class students today study in private universities in Bangladesh to save their academic years and longer student life which happens in public universities even though tuition fee here is minimal. Here, the decision of the government must be rethought and redesigned.
On the other hand, different stories are also available, as in the global ranking, some private universities in Bangladesh are vying with established public universities and have already occupied some positions. BRAC University, North South, ULAB, and Daffodils have already gained a near-global standard.
Its principal reason is not entertaining so-called student politics to kill students’ valuable academic years. The student and teacher politics prevailing in our public universities cannot be termed real politics to do any good to the universities and students’ lives.
This has become a serious concern for guardians and students pursuing education, knowledge, and research at private universities. However, the high tuition fees of some private universities bar some students from enrolling in higher education, which calls for the government’s attention.
It is excellent to learn that around two thousand international students from 26 countries, including the USA, Canada, and Japan, study in Bangladeshi private universities, which can be turned into foreign exchange earning sources if proper steps can be taken.
The government here must help extend and ease visa processing and other facilities for international students so that they find Bangladesh a destination for their higher education. The foreign students wing of established private universities, UGC, and the Foreign Ministry must work together to invite and attract more and more international students.
It is true that the students pursuing higher education in Bangladesh’s private universities, particularly those offering quality education, cannot participate in student politics like those of public universities.
However, they have ample opportunities to bloom their latent talents and sleeping qualities of leadership. They can participate in cultural and education-related activities instead of so-called student politics.
Students are selected by VCs as class representatives or monitors who are selected based on their semester results. They establish a connection between students, teachers and administration. Moreover, student clubs are there to nurture leadership qualities.
Seminar, symposiums, workshops, games and sports, cultural functions and activities to develop pupils’ physical and mental well-being are arranged regularly. Several private universities accommodate VCs, Pro-VCs, faculty and administration officials from abroad.
Because of their being foreigners, the universities witness a different kind of educational atmosphere. The biggest thing private universities are doing is developing the communicative ability in English and ICT skills of learners from all disciplines.
According to the UGC source, Bangladesh now has a total of 170 universities, 55 public and 115 private. Out of these, more than half of the universities were established during the last 15 years of the previous government.
During this period, 87 private and 26 public universities were established. Most of these universities were built on political grounds, seriously demeaning the country’s higher education quality and inviting serious corruption in higher education.
The nefarious design of establishing public universities in each district was to siphon state money and fatten the pockets of partymen. Private universities, however, tried to maintain a safe distance from this game to let down higher education.
Now is the time to review the whole situation of private universities and redesign their academic and other aspects, keeping pace with time and global needs.
About the Author
Masum Billah works as a President of the English Teachers' Association of Bangladesh (ETAB), Dhaka, Bangladesh. He previously worked as an Education Specialist at BRAC, an international NGO in Bangladesh.