No Bangladeshi university has a place in the 2021 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) done by the Shanghai Ranking Consultancy, while neighbouring India has 14 universities placed on the list of 1,000 best universities in the world. More than 2,000 universities were ranked by the ARWU, and the names of the best 1,000 universities have been published. The ARWU considered every university that has any Nobel laureates, highly cited researchers, or papers published in Nature or Science journals.
Harvard University tops the ranking list for the 19th year. The Indian Institute of Science is the best institution in India which is placed in the 401-500 rank range, followed by the University of Calcutta in the 601-700 rank range. Five universities of Pakistan secured positions in the top 1,000 ranking. Four Bangladeshi universities however were listed in the QS World University ranking of 2022, released in June this year. Several universities in India, China and Singapore are moving forward. If we look at them, we can understand our shortcomings. Every stage of education — from primary to higher — is interconnected. But not a lot of planning goes into our education. We have an education policy that has not succeeded to reflect on education quality; we have a strategic plan [2017-2030] but that is also in the deep freeze. Experts underline the need for adequate allocations in the budget to improve the quality of education.
We know why our universities lag behind, we also know how to improve the situation, but we have no standard actions as the university teachers lose their respect when they engage in competition to become politically blessed and sacrifice their academic independence. The government doesn’t like people who come forward with competent and independent initiatives in education and research. This attitude is a threat for students as well as teachers. Thus the government is considered the main obstacle to quality education in the universities of the country.
