Feature

In response to the article "On behalf of private universities"

Manar Din Samad

Public universities in Bangladesh have the tradition and required standards to impart quality higher education in Bangladesh, even after the allegation of political unrest, mud slinging and violence bringing session jam ordeal. To counter the criticism against private universities, I find it objectionable to degrade the public institutes. I may rather ask a student of private university whether he would like to join a private university even after getting chance at the same department of his choice in any public university.

It's noteworthy that so many private universities are coming up in Dhaka city and other cities whereas we have only 3 public (DU, JU, BUET) in Dhaka. Mr. Atahar Ali in his article in Star Campus titled 'On behalf of private universities' mistakenly used the term 'Bangladesh' in place of 'Dhaka'. The critics are actually against the multiplication of private universities in Dhaka alone not in the country. Since Dhaka means more students and hence success and business, investors are keen to open such universities here. But, it is the responsibility of the investors to take higher education to the remote suburbs beyond Dhaka.

Quality of public universities depend on three aspects, 1. Long historical tradition and sound infrastructure, 2. Extraction of nation's best merits through competitive exams regardless of their financial status, 3. Availability of nation's top class faculties. I may remind all that some teachers from the public universities are also taking classes at private universities but that is purely for making money and not for imparting knowledge.

Teachers taking classes at the privates are known to be put under pressure to give pass marks to all students, which, however, is unlikely at public universities. This is like snatching away the liberty of teachers against paying them high salary. This affects fair assessment of students and as a result ends up in a poor quality education. It's worthwhile to have qualified teachers to impart education to qualified students. Without this unique interaction proper education will remain as a vague idea.

To my knowledge, there are students at the CSE/EEE department in some renowned private universities who have no or little background in math and physical sciences, which is mandatory for any public university. Many private universities are admitting students poor in math having no eligibility to study engineering. But they get in because they have strong financial background to support their expenses.

Most private universities don't yet have full-time high profile academics since they still rely on part-timers from the public universities. No need to mention about their partial occupancy in the edifices with no campus surrounding. Think about the 50-year old Agricultural University at Mymensingh on 1200 acres of land with a fairly sound environment. Still they lag behind in the market since it's far from Dhaka and not meant for those who possess more wealth than merit. Private universities are concentrating on job markets and giving certificates to anyone who is not even competent to study the demanding courses.

The University Grant Commission (UGC) outlined the minimum standards for any private university to be enlisted as qualified. Rush of private university students to the job markets can never be treated as good sign of standard for a university.

Mr. Athar Ali is skeptic about the quality of public universities from the global perspective. I may humbly ask whether you have surveyed or counted the number of papers and publications released by our public universities. Let's go back to BAU campus at Mymensingh. You will find there hundreds of Ph.D. and Post Doc holder professors and researchers each having dozens or even hundreds of local and international publications. Is it so easy to build up a sophisticated university with some donations and investments? It would take a long time, patience, academic joint venture, goodwill and of course government support. Nevertheless, the time has not yet come to compare the concept of private universities in Bangladesh with those in the developed countries.

(Former Student, Dept of EEE, BUET)