New Bangladesh and our aspirations with universities

In the modern world, educated and skilled manpower is the key to moving a country forward. The main strength of the developed countries and nations of the world lies with their amasing advancements in science and technology. Needless to say, every level from primary school to university plays an important role in building educated and skilled manpower in a country. However, it is undeniable that universities play the leading role in this regard.
Dhaka University, the first university of this country, started its journey in 1921. In British India, it shines as the only seat of higher education in this region. Later, during the Pakistan period, Rajshahi University (1953), Bangladesh Agricultural University (1961), Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (1962), Chittagong University (1966) and Jahangirnagar University (1970) – these 6 universities were established one by one. Among them, except Bangladesh Agricultural University and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, the remaining 4 were general universities.
In the first two decades of independent Bangladesh, only two to four more universities were established, but later many universities were established in different parts of the country. Besides, some colleges were also converted into universities. In addition to general universities, they include engineering universities, agricultural universities, medical universities and science and technology universities. Apart from this, a few specialised universities have also been established to develop special skills (BUTEX, BSMRMU, and BSMRAAU). The National University and The Open University are two universities conducting the higher education programs of the colleges and the distance learning programmes, respectively.
In 1992 the then government introduced the Private Universities Act to meet the increasing demand for higher education. Although a total of about 15 universities including North South University (NSU), International University of Business Agriculture and Technology (IUBAT) and Darul Ihsan University (DIU) among others were established under it in the first decade, 115 private universities have so far been approved by the University Grants Commission, according to the latest update. Besides, according to a news media source, more than a hundred of additional applications are in the que for the establishment of more private universities. Although questions have been raised about the education quality and management of many private universities, some of them have drawn special attention for their outstanding performance.
After completing the higher secondary education, students in the country target public universities as their first choice for higher education. Many things work behind this motivation. One of the main reasons is that students get the opportunity to study in these universities at a nominal tuition fee (only Tk. 12 per month). Moreover, these universities have hostel facilities for students, where at least part of the total students are accommodated. Students can live in these hostels at a very low cost. Thus, it is a lucky option for the poor talented students of the country to get an opportunity here. Besides, being funded by the government, each of these universities have a beautiful campus over a vast area. Furthermore, as commercial considerations do not play a role in determining what subjects would be taught in these universities, they have the opportunities to open many subjects in various branches of knowledge and science, which private universities cannot afford because they are not considered commercially profitable. Thus, the togetherness of multidisciplinary subjects gives them the shape of a complete university in the real sense. Moreover, despite the inadequacy of monetary facilities, the country’s best talents still want to join as teachers at public universities. Thus, here students get the chance to have access to the best talents of the country, with few exceptions. Apart from academic studies, the interaction of the students with each other and with the teachers in the vast campus through various extra-curricular activities also plays an important role in preparing them for the important responsibilities of their future life.
Evidently, the opportunity of higher education offered by the public universities at a nominal cost is a boon to the young manpower of this country. The question remains, to what extent they are being able to play to their potential in performing their roles and responsibilities. Undoubtedly, the universities are providing the skilled manpower required to discharge various responsibilities in different sectors of
the country. But, according to the concept underlying university education, one of the key functions of universities is to create knowledge that is accomplished through research. Unfortunately, as of now most activities of the universities in the country are focused on course-work. Despite having skilled manpower to guide, the research culture herein failed to flourish adequately on a sound foundation.
Research activities of students are mainly conducted at 3 levels at universities. In many disciplines, at the undergraduate level, students have a primary introduction to research through a small research project. Afterwards, at master’s level, students get the opportunity to do more detailed research on a particular topic. However, the opportunity for in-depth research in any subject comes mainly at the PhD level. In order to ensure high-quality research at a university, it is necessary to pay special attention to ensure adequate patronage and support to research performed at master’s and PhD level. Most of the students who are engaged in research at this level already have financial responsibilities. Therefore, in order to extract out good performance from them at this level, it is necessary to give them sufficient scholarships/financial grants, so that they can take leave/exemption from any job or business they were engaged in and fully devote themselves to the research to be undertaken. This can ensure some good quality research at the universities every year, even if the number is less, which will gradually take the universities to a new height.
Another thing that can be taken into consideration, for establishing higher research in universities on a sound background, is setting up a separate administration for conducting and monitoring master’s and PhD level research. A Director to the rank of Vice-Chancellor may be appointed to oversee it. Apart from the responsibility of overseeing higher research degrees, the Research Cells being established in different universities can also be vested with this administration. If teaching and research are conducted in this way under two separate, parallel administrations, research will also receive due attention besides course-work. In addition, one or more universities may be established in the pattern of BSMMU, which will only offer higher research degrees like master’s by research/ PhD in various fields. If such an arrangement could be ensured for taking care of higher research, the country will be able to produce at some point a significant number of master’s and PhD degree holders with good research background. In that case, it will also be possible to implement easily the demand raised by various quarters to make it mandatory to have a PhD degree in the recruitment of teachers at universities. This will turn the key focus of students on research instead of course-work, and that certainly will usher in a new era of research at the universities of the country.
Apart from the sorry picture of universities in higher research, another major problem of the public universities of the country is session jams. There are many factors at work behind session jams. However, a factor that is less focused on is the shortage of teaching manpower at universities. Some one to two years ago the University Grants Commission took a statistics of teaching load from various departments of the universities, which showed that the number of teaching posts in many departments including mine was about half of the required number of teaching staff. It is not possible to double on a sudden the teaching staff at universities. However, it is certainly possible to do this in a few years through a fixed plan if the necessary allocations are secured.
It is very possible to do one more thing in this regard, which for unknown reasons does not seem to have been taken into account so far by those who have come at different times to administer the universities of this country. That is appointment of master’s and PhD researchers as teaching assistants. If this is done, on the one hand, the teaching workload of the teachers would be reduced, while, on the other hand, these students also would have some orientation on teaching and a timely support to reduce their financial stress. This will not only help in de-jamming sessions, but teachers will also be able to focus more on research as a consequence of reduced teaching load. It may be mentioned here that it is a standard practice at universities in the developed world to employ master’s/PhD researchers as teaching assistants to support regular teachers, which is more or less known to all those who have had the opportunity to pursue their higher education in these countries.
Student politics has become another major concern in the smooth running of the public universities in the country. Analysis of the course of events at universities in post-independence Bangladesh indicates that the dominant student organisations, especially the government party student organisations, establish a reign of terror on university campuses. They basically act as the crutches of their main political organisations and government-appointed university administrations and in turn exercise undue authorities in various administrative activities including seat allocation in dormitories. Apart from this, it is a routine work of them to physically and mentally harass in various ways the members of other student organisations as well as ordinary students.Eating for free in dining halls, canteens and shops and extorting shopkeepers and contractors are part of their regular activities. Unfortunately, teachers belonging to the same quarter turn a blind eye to their misdeeds and in some cases support them for their nefarious partisan interests. Therefore, the banning of student politics, in particular party-affiliated student politics, at universities has become a public demand today.
Many think that teacher politics in universities is also a big obstacle to their proper management. University teachers have an opportunity to play an important role as a think tank in country’s politics. Unfortunately, a significant proportion of our teachers involved in party politics here play their role as party activists rather than as guides of national politics. A main focus of their political communication remains to secure various posts and positions. The entanglement of politically active teachers with influential student organisations, especially government party student organisations, emboldens them to carry out their nefarious activities unhindered. For these reasons, many think that, along with student politics, teacher politics should also be banned at universities.
The new era that the students and people of this country ushered in through the July Revolution has given us an unprecedented opportunity to shake things up. Now is the right time to shake off the long-accumulated garbage at the country’s universities. Once the universities are fixed, the course of the entire country will automatically be set on the right track. To this end, if required, the formation of a separate commission deserves serious consideration.