Revamping National University is urgently necessary

What was the purpose of founding the National University way back in 1992? Surely it was not just to dish out certificates to students who remain with the university as its students at its various affiliated colleges after a certain period. Students, who do not get an opportunity to get admitted in public universities or fail to go to costly private universities due to their economic condition, enter this university as their only option with the hope that after completing their graduate and post graduate education they would join the workforce.
Unfortunately, the NU students are not able to do that because the course curriculum of the university is not helping them to get a job. Quoting a recent survey conducted by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, a national daily yesterday mentioned that a whopping 66 per cent of NU graduates remain unemployed as their subjects and skills do not often match the criteria set by private sector employers. They fail to compete with their counterparts of other universities in terms of communication also. The NU graduates lack necessary skills in information and communications technology also.
Facing criticism the NU authorities have planned to introduce post-graduate diploma courses on a dozen subjects or so soon at colleges in the capital. While introducing these courses, which still are in the piloting stage, might prove beneficial to the students, the need now is a thorough overhauling of the course curriculum so that the university can offer education that not only helps the students to earn ability of analytical skill on diverse subjects but also prepare them for the job market.
This is urgent because two years ago the university had 34.25 lakh students in 555 government and 1700 non-government colleges. Failure to give them a pragmatic and right kind of education can put the huge number of NU students in jeopardy.
Poor budget allocation for education always remains as a stumbling block as far as advancement in quality of education in the country is concerned. Bangladesh spends below 2.5 per cent of the GDP while UNESCO recommends 4-6 per cent of a country’s GDP in education. Once adequate money is sanctioned for education, the NU authorities, along with other universities, would also be able to give need-based education creating an adequate number of teachers and infrastructure.