The world economy is increasingly knowledge-based. We cannot afford not to improve the quality of our universities
Not a single Bangladeshi university is listed in a widely recognised ranking of the world’s top 500 universities.
There is no reason why we should not be aspiring to have a dozen Bangladeshi universities making the cut to this list.
A nation with our large population does not lack talent. We have an abundance of students and researchers studying at major universities abroad, and working in leading institutes.
The quality of education and research conducted in our universities needs to be drastically improved if we ever want to turn brain drains into brain gains, by developing cutting-edge educational facilities which attract more leading researchers to work in Bangladesh.
Publications and research are a major aspect of these types of ranking, but with a few notable exceptions, Bangladeshi institutions lack the resources to invest in innovative projects to make the best use of their potential. Government funding needs to keep in mind the importance of investing in research for attracting and retaining expertise.
One of the primary factors hampering our country’s higher education sector is politics. Rampant instances of political party factions wreaking havoc on campuses are hugely costly. Politicised appointments and factionalism among professional bodies all help shift the focus away from improving education.
The world economy is increasingly knowledge-based. We cannot afford to allow our universities’ potential to be hindered in this manner.
We need to improve the quality of our universities to reflect the quality of our students, in order to allow Bangladeshi universities to earn more recognition at the global level.
Source: bdnews24
