The system of private universities is a relatively new concept in Bangladesh. Because of the ever-growing demand for education at the university level, and the fact that existing public universities could not meet the need, the government passed a Private Universities Act in 1992. Starting with a handful, the number of private universities has grown rapidly and stands at 54 to date, compared with 21 public universities.
Part of the reason is that Bangladesh has one of the fastest-growing populations in the world, increasing from 45 million in 1971 to more than 145 million today. But private universities are also popular because the public institutions could not offer enough places in courses of high demand so students opted for lesser-known universities rather than study a subject which might not have good job prospects.
The private universities have capitalised on this situation by limiting what they offer to a few disciplines such as business, computer science, engineering, medicine and so on which are very much in demand in the job market.
A University Grants Commission report says the standard of education in most of the public universities is not up to the mark. The reasons include student politics, irregular and interrupted classes and examinations, unsatisfactory teacher-student ratios and so forth. In contrast, most of these problems are non-existent in the private universities.
Prior to their introduction, most students were not able to enrol in the esteemed public universities and had few options left to them. Some went abroad to study, the majority going to India and a few to the US, UK and Australia.
Eventually, Bangladesh began to suffer from the loss of huge amounts of hard-earned foreign currency, and also the loss of many of its then highly qualified citizens - the brain-drain factor.
So the private universities have directly helped in saving foreign currency as well as reducing the brain drain. Many scholarships are also available for students with brilliant academic results although they are also popular with those who face financial constraints. Critics say more need-based scholarships should be available to create opportunities for a higher number of deserving candidates.
Although some of the universities have come under fire for failing to deliver what they had promised, it has to be remembered that Bangladesh's whole system of higher education is still in its development stage.
In the US, as well as in many other countries around the world, private universities and colleges are as good as the public ones, if not better at times. MIT, Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Dartmouth are all private institutions. In Bangladesh, many private universities are also excellent education institutions.
mahdin.mahboob@gmail.com
* Mahdin Mahboob is a sub-editor on The Star Campus Magazine of The Daily Star newspaper in Bangladesh where this article first appeared.
