Universities’ failure to produce skilled graduates

In Bangladesh, universities can be divided into three categories: public, private, and national universities. While both Dhaka University and BUET are considered to be top universities in Bangladesh, they have made little improvement in the most recent QS world university rankings for 2021. As was the case last year, both universities were classified as being in the 801-1000 range.

Faulty teachers' recruitmentsystem: The recruitment mechanism for teachers at Public University has lately been called into question. The recruiting procedure is plagued by several legal and institutional shortcomings. Recruitment is sometimes based on political consideration. It is disheartening that extensive and comprehensive rules are missing for recruiting teachers. According to a study of TIB, there is a scope for fixing recruitment processes by the syndicate boards.
Teachers at National University-affiliated colleges have been recruited through a rigorous procedure called the BCS examination, which is administered by the Bangladesh Public Service Commission. But a specific recruitment system is absent regarding the lecturer recruitment of public universities. In contrast, for being appointed as assistant professor, in private universities, one needs to hold PhD degree, but a person can become a professor by using his job tenure without holding any PhD in both national and public universities.


Inadequate library facilities
Rather focusing on their academic studies, students mainly new graduates utilize libraries to be prepared for job interviews. The lack of harmony between the present education and recruitment systems is the primary driver of this predicament. Academic study is, at times, useless in the job market.Aside from that, a survey found that library users are frustrated with the library facilities. There are no adequate books. Furthermore, the E-library service is inactive.

Rising trend of BCS craze: In less than six years, the number of applications has doubled-from 244,000 in the 35th BCS to 475,000 in the 41st, smashing all previous records. On the curve, the increasing trend continues.With limited public investment in education, graduates are more interested in seeking government positions than pursuing research or starting their own businesses.

Over and above, apparently,perhaps our teachers have failed to motivate students to be academicians, pursue careers in the private/development sector, or pursuing higher study. Isn't the scenario somewhat ominous?

Complexity of Teacher-student relationship: The recent incident of cutting the hair of 14 students by a teacher at Rabindra University in Sirajganj and the death of a KUET teacher has now given a chance to think again about the student-teacher relationship.Much of the student-teacher relationship is now in a state of discomfort, distrust, and, to put it bluntly, face to face.

There are student-teacher politics across many university departments. This politics is not usually centred on political parties; it may be based on a variety teachers' genres and mismatches. As a result, just as many teachers engage in politics with their learners, many students are now becoming involved in that politics as well. Students' aim is to obtain a favourable result, whereas teachers' goal is to deploy students to irritate the opponents.

Absence of research culture: In national universities, neither teachers nor the students have adequate scope for research. Teachers at national universities are promoted through basic training, departmental examinations, and senior scale examinations. M.Phil., Ph.D., Post Doctorate, Journal Publications, and so on have no significance on their promotion. As a result, they are indifferent to research.

So what about the public universities? Have they been doing research in the true sense? According to the annual report of UGC, 2019, among 46 public universities, 19 university teachers aren't doing any kind of research. Even in 24 public universities, there is no scope for MPhil or Ph.D. research. Teachers at these universities work or are promoted without conducting any research or by publishing in predatory journals by paying money.

What about private universities? According to the 47th annual report of the (UGC), among the public universities, Dhaka University has spent the most on research, at Taka 6 crore 61 lakh. On the other hand, the private university BRAC has spent the most on research in 2020, 55 crore 23 lakh taka.It seems that the research culture in the universities of Bangladesh may come with the hands of private universities.

Dearth of qualityeducation: According to a labour force survey of BBS, the unemployment rate is higher (48 percent) among educated people in our country. On the contrary, many companies hire employees from abroad due to the lack of qualified candidates available in our country. As a result, the quality of education delivered by public, private, and national institutions might be called into doubt.    

In the context of private universities, the UGC has voiced concern about the supremacy of business over education, which has had a detrimental effect on the quality of education. Although the Private University Act, 2010 was enacted, only a handful of universities comply with it.

In the case of public Universities,A noble profession like teaching is seen as a mundane career by the teachers. Once, one of my university teachers, while taking class, said "I don't care about you (students), I'm a teacher of a public university, I accomplished my career, and I need nothing now".

While the teachers think of the teaching profession to be merely a government job, then how would they think about students? How would they guide them? Rather, they emphasize the advancement of their career in one way or another. The teacher further used to say, "You (students) will be able nothing more than a grocer in future" while the duty of the teacher was to motivate students.

Our higher education system is highly bounded by some fatal flaws. Actually, if we want to save our country, we want to fulfil the dream of golden Bangladesh, we need, indeed, viable solutions. The aforementioned problems have inevitably invited us to reconsider the system of higher education in Bangladesh.

The higher education system should not be politicized, teachers-students should be coordinated, not competitive, adequate library facilities is needed in all educational institutions. Last but not the least, government has to spend more money in the research field of universities and to encourage teachers' a research based culture in the universities.
Md Obaidullah and Md Sohrab Hossen, Research Assistants at Centre for Advanced Social Research, Dhaka