The human resource of a nation serves as the ultimate driving force behind its sustainable development, economic growth and social progress. Higher education is the primary medium through which this human resource is transformed into a skilled, competent and globally competitive workforce. In the current global context, there is no alternative to investing in higher education to tackle the challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and to build a knowledge-based economy. As the nation advances toward transforming from a middle-income country to a developed one, significantly increasing the allocation for higher education in the upcoming national budget is not merely a traditional demand, but an inevitable necessity of the times. Raising financial allocations has become critically urgent for improving the quality of higher education, expanding research and achieving structural transformation.
To fully reap the benefits of the demographic dividend, the youth must be highly educated and prepared for the modern global labour market. Today, traditional or generic degrees alone are insufficient to meet the sophisticated demands of even the domestic job market, let alone the international one. In this reality, if allocations for higher education are increased to modernize curricula, expand technical and IT education extensively, and arrange specialized training, the youth will be transformed into a world-class skilled workforce. The upcoming budget needs to allocate substantial funds for academic reforms and the introduction of new technology-based subjects in higher education institutions to achieve this transformation.
Research and the creation of new knowledge form the core pillars of higher education. Universities in developed countries continuously enrich their economies by innovating new technologies and theories. To expand the scope and elevate the international standards of research in our public and private universities, the funding for research needs to be specific and substantially large.
The infrastructure of higher education institutions, particularly public universities and government colleges, needs to be modernized and made relevant to the times. Facilities such as digital classrooms, high-speed internet-enabled libraries, improved residential accommodations and international-standard laboratories must be widened. To ensure the availability of modern and sophisticated equipment required for technical and science-based education, the volume of development grants in the upcoming budget needs to be raised. Establishing a specific special fund for infrastructural development in the budget will allow higher education institutions across every corner of the country to ensure uniformly advanced facilities.
We are living in an era where technologies like artificial intelligence, block chain, data science, the Internet of Things (IoT) and robotics are driving the world forward. If our higher education system is to keep pace with these shifts, massive investment in the technology sector is essential. Substantial funding is required to open new departments on these modern subjects, set up labs and train teachers. Increasing allocations by focusing heavily on this technological transformation and the establishment of modern laboratories in the upcoming budget will give students direct access to applied knowledge, which will exponentially boost their employment opportunities.
Ensuring the competence and standard of teachers is a fundamental prerequisite for elevating the quality of higher education. Faculty members need regular opportunities for advanced national and international training, PhDs and post-doctoral research. To attract qualified and meritorious youth to the teaching profession, attention must also be paid to enhancing their professional and institutional benefits.
It is vital to ensure that higher education does not become the exclusive privilege of a particular segment of society. To prevent meritorious but financially underprivileged students from being deprived of higher education due to financial constraints, stipends, scholarships and student loans on easy terms must be strengthened in the budget. This will play a long-term role in reducing economic disparity and establishing social equity. Introducing proposals in the upcoming budget to increase special financial incentives and scholarships to further boost female participation in both general and technical higher education can be highly effective, contributing significantly to women's empowerment and human resource development.
If the true reflection of the required allocation for the overall education and higher education sectors, according to international standards, is seen in the upcoming budget, our higher education institutions will advance significantly in global rankings. Increasing the per-capita expenditure in higher education will enable universities to build themselves as globally competitive entities. The academic environment required to prove the competence of our graduates on the world stage can only be ensured by increasing budget allocations. There is no alternative to increasing allocations in the upcoming budget to maximize the contribution of universities toward building a knowledge-based society.
To derive the maximum benefit from financial allocations in higher education, the upcoming budget should also focus on strengthening the industry-academia collaboration. Special financial policies and incentives can be introduced in the budget to launch joint-funding research and internship programs between universities and the country's industrial sectors. As a result, students can gain real-world workplace experience even before completing their studies. Simultaneously, it is imperative to adopt special projects in the upcoming budget to build advanced digital libraries, e-learning platforms and centralized database systems across renowned higher education institutions.
Investment in education and research is the safest and most profitable capital for a nation's future. An educated and enlightened society alone can guide a nation correctly through any crisis and make it economically self-reliant. The fundamental cornerstone for the overall progress of the nation and the realization of its long-term visions must be laid within our universities. Therefore, significantly increasing the allocation for the higher education sector as a visionary step in the upcoming national budget is the demand of the hour. The nation will stand tall in the world by virtue of merit, technology and knowledge-and it is expected that the upcoming budget will reflect this through increased allocations.
The writer is an assistant director, Info and Publication, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET)
