The National University of Bangladesh will train 12,000 teachers across the country to strengthen skills-based and job-oriented education for its students.
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman will inaugurate the programme on Sunday at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Center.
Vice-Chancellor of National University of Bangladesh Professor Dr A S M Amanullah came up with the announcement at a press briefing on Friday at the university’s city office in Dhaka’s Dhanmondi.
Speaking at the briefing on the “Teacher Training Programme on ‘Integrating skills-based and job-oriented education into the curriculum,” the Vice-Chancellor said around four million students are currently enrolled in nearly 2,500 colleges under the National University system.
He noted that studies have shown a significant number of graduates struggle to enter the job market due to a lack of labour-market-relevant skills.
To address this gap, the government in collaboration with the ICT Division, a2i, and UNICEF has introduced a revised skills-based curriculum aimed at improving employability.
Under the new framework, students will receive training in freelancing, entrepreneurship development, digital marketing, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science. To support implementation, 900 master trainers have already been prepared, who will later train 12,000 teachers in phases.
Professor Amanullah said the initiative is designed to align higher education with labour market demand, enhance student employability, promote entrepreneurship, and strengthen the competitiveness of Bangladeshi graduates in the global job market.
He further said a language institute has been established under the university, through which language clubs will be introduced in colleges to teach Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Italian, and Arabic languages.
Students have also been encouraged to plant at least one tree each, with the university expecting more than 200 million trees to be planted over the next five years through the initiative.
He added that the current industry–academia collaboration rate among National University students is below 10 percent, with a target to raise it to 50–60 percent by 2030.
The university is also expanding cultural activities, sports, debates, and moral education to develop students into responsible and value-driven citizens.
Md Nurul Islam and other senior officials were also present at the briefing.