Over the past few years, only a few public and private universities of the country have steadily progressed in the parameters of various global rankings agencies including the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), Times Higher Education (THE), and Quacquarelli Symonds (QS).
Bangladesh has over 160 public and private universities, but their failure in securing a respectable position in global university rankings has been frustrating for educationists, teachers, and students.
With the government approving new universities each year to meet the growing need for higher education in the country, the question of quality over quantity has increasingly been coming to the fore.
Despite the government’s spending of a huge sum of money through the University Grants Commission (UGC) on public universities, the quality of education has not apparently improved. Multiple factors are cited to explain the problem.
In the last five years, no Bangladeshi university has been able to secure a position among the top 500 universities ranked by the UK-based Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) in terms of quality of education and research.
Meanwhile, nine Indian and three Pakistani universities secured positions among the 500 in the 2021 QS rankings, published earlier this year.
It is notable that Bangladesh has a higher number of universities than its two South Asian neighbours.
This situation raises a question: what are these universities doing in terms of providing quality education and research?
Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni recently urged the universities of the country to be more proactive and give importance to global rankings.
“We need to be part of the global system to determine our position and quality of education,” she said at an event on August 22.
The minister urged all universities to focus more on research work and invest some time working on issues that can help universities come by higher global rankings.
Triumphs
According to the latest QS rankings, Bangladesh University of Engineering (Buet) ranks 185th in the world in the engineering and technology category. Last year, the ranking of Buet was 347, which means the university has improved 162 spots.
On the other hand, Dhaka University was ranked first among the country's universities by Madrid-based education and research institute Webometrics, while Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (Sust) was second, and Bangladesh University of Engineering (Buet) third.
However, in the international rankings, Dhaka University placed 1,468, Sust 1,476, and Buet 1,483.
Meanwhile, among private universities, the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) was listed among the Global Top 100 Innovative Universities in the World's Universities with Real Impact (WURI) rankings for 2021.
ULAB also entered the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Ranking 2021 with an overall score of 52.2 (out of 100) and an overall rank in the 601-800 range (out of 1,115 institutions from 98 countries).
However, no Bangladeshi universities are among the top 250 Asian universities, according to THE Asia University Rankings 2022.
DU secured a position in the 251-300 group while Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) placed in the 351-400 group, and Buet placed in the 401–500 group in the rankings.
THE used tools for ranking--teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.
Focus areas
The QS World Rankings assesses universities in terms of six key factors: academic reputation (40%), employer reputation (10%), citations per faculty (20%), faculty or student ratio (20%), international faculty ratio (5%), and international student ratio (5%).
According to educationists and stakeholders, in light of these indicators, all the universities have been lagging since their inception.
For example, the minimum standard for the average teacher-student ratio at the global higher education level is 1:20; meaning that there should be one teacher for every 20 students. However, the latest UGC report shows that 57 public and private universities of the country do not meet this standard.
The ratio is 1:16 at Dhaka University, 1:14 at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), 1:07 at Bangladesh Agriculture University, 1:25 at Jagannath University, 1:35 at Rajshahi University, and 1:22 at Jahangirnagar University and Chittagong University.
In Bangladesh, teacher recruitment in public universities depends on personal connections and political considerations rather than merit or qualifications, for which less qualified candidates have been recruited, said educationist Prof Serajul Islam Choudhury.
“Such appointments have ultimately degraded the quality of education in universities,” he observed.
Engagement of foreigners negligible
Bangladesh also lags behind with regard to recruitment of foreign teachers, a prerequisite for university rankings. The number of foreign students has not increased much over the last few years.
According to UGC data, the number of foreign students was 210 in 2011, 525 in 2012, 326 in 2013, 432 in 2014, 593 in 2015, 355 in 2016, 461 in 2017, 804 in 2018, 482 in 2019 and 767 in 2020.
In terms of subject-wise ranking, Buet, however, has been ranked 185th in the Engineering and Technology category while DU secured 203rd position in the world in the Social Sciences and Management category, according to the 12th edition of QS World University Rankings.
Multiple factors to blame
Former UGC chairman Prof Nazrul Islam thinks that foreign students are losing interest due to the traditional syllabus, infrastructural problems, accommodation crisis, bureaucratic complexities, and instability due to student politics on the campuses.
On the other hand, the university authorities are not interested in providing a salary structure of an international standard and other facilities for teachers, he said.
“If they go for higher salaries and other benefits for foreign teachers, it will give rise to discrimination,” he told Dhaka Tribune.
Prof Shaikh Ekramul Kabir, a member of the Education Policy-2010 Formulation Committee, said if any university wants to secure a position among the first ten or 100, it must go for a reform of everything, including student enrollment procedures, teacher recruitment and promotion policies, residence facilities, research allocations, teaching methods and syllabi.
“Otherwise, the goal will remain elusive,” he added.