Higher Education and Private Universities in Bangladesh.

Mahbub Hussain Khan

Given the premise that the need for higher education is one of the emergent issues in our developing society, how then can we find the material and human resources necessary to build up and expand the structure? In the economically developed West there has been a long tradition of universities financed from both public and private resources. The private universities there in most cases are the best of their kind in the world in their educational competence. Even nearby India, contiguous to us physically, though somewhat ahead in economic advancement, has some really excellent private universities.

Private universities and colleges for higher learning have a short history in our country. This is both because of the non-availability of private funds for investment as well as the lack of interest in the educated elite to sponsor and administer such organizations. However the increasingly larger requirements for places in the universities and professional colleges, as well as the administrative disorders of session jam and decline in educational quality in the state-run places of higher learning provided the impetus for diverting funds to universities in addition to the nursery, primary, and secondary schools being set up in our country, albeit primarily in the urban centers. Interestingly enough three of these universities have been set up, organized and administered by former senior civil servants who also have academic competence. This is in part because of the necessity of management resources towards the making of a success of an educational place of higher learning.

How have these universities matured in their objectives, over the years, apart of course from the factor of trying to recover a reasonable return of the investment? We have come to know about the present status of these universities, if not the ratings we may make on specific criteria in relation to the state run academies, in the reports and columns in the print and electronic media and also from the seminars and workshops held on topics related to the educational and administrative management of private universities Apart from the obvious need of offering higher education to those not getting a place in public universities and graduate colleges, the private universities fulfill other needs also, one of the foremost is the assurance of finishing course and getting a degree in the scheduled time. This is being achieved by shielding students from political and social turmoil, making up for lost time due to hartals and strikes, and ensuring that teachers meet the qualitative and quantitative standards that have been setup by the curriculum. This has not been easy, but to date it has worked to the advantage of students. Newspaper and other surveys indicate a satisfied clientele in this regard. Another important factor from the viewpoint of both students and guardians in the association of many of these universities with universities of developed countries though not all of these are first rateand also the tapping of teaching talents from abroad. In these days of the 'information highway' these universities are trying to take optimum advantage of borrowing knowledge from all sources. This technique is still lacking in the state-run counterparts. Besides, there are also special programmes available for those not able to attend the universities in formal enrolment. For example the University of Asia Pacific has Distance Education, Foreign Academic and Technical Collaboration, Special programmes, Extension programmes and co curricular Activities. These include short professional courses, language courses, debates, cultural activities and programmes which are innovative and creative, built into the curriculum. Other universities also have similar programmes on their academic calendar.

And now come the key questions of the lacuna and the affordability at the private universities. The obvious lacuna is that none of these universities can match the sprawling campuses and physical facilities of the public universities. Not yet anyway. This is because of resource constraints and the absence of available space within urban centres which Dhaka being the almost total compass of these universities are in scarce supply. Possibly the near future may see that these universities have invested more in their physical facilities and shifted their campus to accessible but spacious places. Residential private colleges and universities may also be in vogue, in the future.

The question of affordability is very much on the top of the agenda. Again a semester in a private university can cost up to Tk 140,000 which means an overall annual cost of over three lakhs to cover tuition, books, and other supplementary expenses. Whatever be the calculations of per-capita income, only the really affluent can afford this. This means that the not-quite top class student who is poor has to still look for places in the public universities and colleges.

Prescriptions are only indicative but some of the emergent steps that need be taken are in the different fields of investments to redress the lacuna. Higher education both in the public and private sectors must attract and celebrate the best of teaching talent. At present some of the best talents from say, Dhaka University, is hired on part time basis. Efforts and expenses for their fulltime utilization have to be made. Capital, the basic requirement for material investment, moves readily from one country to another. Teachers, the essential instruments of education, are less mobile.

An international teacher corps is one of the major needs of higher educational development. In this connection foreign investments so eagerly sought in industrial and trade sectors have also to be solicited for education and higher education. Private schools, colleges and universities have to be encouraged, both from necessity and as an expression of an essential freedom in the free society. They must not be a design for not according a better education and superior educational opportunity for those who are able to pay. A system for student grants, loans, has to be devised and patronized by the government to overcome its own lacuna to provide places for all aspirants to higher education. We look forward to more investments for promoting quality higher education in the private sector and also the opportunity for some of the poor but meritorious to study at these universities with grants and loans.