Inflated Degrees and the Devaluation of Human Capital

A master’s degree holder applying for an office assistant’s position would once have been considered an extraordinary exception.

However, it is gradually becoming common in Bangladesh. Recently, during the recruitment for the post of office assistant at the DC office Pabna, almost all the selected candidates had honours or master’s degree, despite the job requiring only an SSC qualification.

Similar incidents have been reported in the recruitment of public sector bodies like Bangladesh Railway in which highly educated youths are competing to get jobs which require much lower educational qualifications. The issue is not that these jobs lack dignity.

The problem is that Bangladesh is producing more university graduates than job opportunities to make best use of their knowledge and skill.

The mismatch is also evident at the other end of the labour market. The 47th Bangladesh Civil Service Examination (BCS) final results released by Bangladesh Public Service Commission (BPSC) revealed that 2,343 posts in various technical and professional cadre posts went vacant due to the lack of qualified candidates at the required standard.

These are both disturbing paradoxes because, on the one hand, a significant number of well-educated graduates are seeking positions that are lower than their education, and on the other hand, there is a lack of qualified applicants for critical jobs in the public sector.

This phenomenon may be described as “inflated degrees and the devaluation of human capital.” Bangladesh is experiencing a similar situation as economic inflation, that is, the number of educational credentials is increasing at a rate much higher than the learning outcomes, employability or productivity.

The result is not merely graduate unemployment; it is the gradual erosion of the value that education is expected to create.

In the last 15 years, Bangladesh has made tremendous strides in increasing educational access.

School enrolment has gone up, pass rates are at record levels, the number of GPA-5 recipients has grown many times over and universities have grown in number all over the country.

It’s good to recognize these accomplishments. But access doesn’t mean quality. Higher pass rates are not necessarily associated with higher competence.

This distinction is reflected in the international assessments.
According to the World Bank’s Human Capital Index, a student who has studied for over a decade in Bangladesh achieves the equivalent of learning experienced by only about six years by international standards. students are spending more years in classrooms than the knowledge and skills they ultimately acquire would suggest increasing years of schooling and declining learning outcomes over time.

The same concern extends to higher education. Today, Bangladesh boasts over 170 public and private universities but none of them are consistently ranks among the top worldwide universities.

The access to the institution has certainly been enhanced, but not in the same proportion as the quality of teaching, research, laboratories, libraries and academic governance. As a result, many university graduates come out with degrees and lack practical, analytical, communication, and technological skills that are necessary in today’s job market.

The growing mismatch between education and employment has become increasingly evident. New labour force data indicates that the rate of graduate unemployment is still at a critical level, and research has revealed that employment rates for graduates from many of the colleges with affiliated to the universities are very poor.

At the same time, employers frequently complain that many graduates require extensive retraining before they become productive employees.

This paradox, coupled with employer discontent, is an indicator that it is not a lack of jobs, but also a lack of job ready graduates.

Its impact reaches beyond the borders of Bangladesh. Every year, hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshis migrate overseas for employment. Many of them have even completed their SSC or HSC exams or even university degrees.

However, many of them join in low-skilled works due to the absence of technical skills, language skills and vocational qualifications. This means that they typically earn notably less than the people who come from other countries whice invest high in skills development. So, it is important to export qualified workers to meet the remittance potential of Bangladesh.

There are several structural weaknesses, which have contributed to this crisis. There is a lack of curriculum relevance at many levels to address the needs of a rapidly changing global economy.

Memorisation is still the main part of classroom activity, whereas critical thinking, creativity, problem solving, digital competence and communication are comparatively little emphasised. Traditional assessment systems still emphasize examination over practical skills.

The quality of teachers is a key determinant of the performance of any education system. But many teachers are not professionally trained enough, have limited opportunities for continuous development and are paid little in comparison to other professions and many neighbouring countries.

Attracting talented graduates into teaching requires transparent recruitment, competitive salaries, professional respect, and continuous capacity building.

Public investment also remains inadequate. Investment in laboratories, libraries, educational technology, research, teacher training, and institutional development is essential to ensure quality education.

Likewise, there is still less social prestige and policy interest regarding technical and vocational education than traditional academic degrees, despite its proven contribution to employment and economic productivity in many successful Asian economies.

The solution is not just to create more universities and more graduates. The educational philosophy of Bangladesh needs to be changed from producing certificates to building competency.

The curricula are outdated lacking conformity with international standards and labour market demands.

The university should reinforce cooperation with industries by providing internships, apprenticeships and hands-on training.

There is a need for more investment in the recruitment of teachers, teacher training and educational facilities. Technical and Vocational education must be a major ingredient in national development, not an alternative for those who are unsuccessful in academic education.

Bangladesh is in a demographic tipping point. The youth population could be either an economic asset or a lost opportunity. Human capital is not created by degrees, it is created by knowledge, skills, innovation and productivity.

The real test of an education system should not be based on the number of certificates issued or the percentage of students who pass examinations, but rather on its capacity to produce citizens capable of contributing to the productive economy and becoming responsible citizens in society and participants in the competitive world.

(The writer is an MPhil researcher at Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP), Mirpur Cantonment, Dhaka)