University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman A K Azad Chowdhury said yesterday that some private universities were doing well in the country.
“...We have some private universities which are competing with public universities,” Azad said at an international seminar held in the capital.
The University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB), a private university, arranged the seminar titled “21th Century Classroom: Directions, Issues and Changes.”
Educationists from home and abroad participated in the seminar.
Saying that he had observed various projects prepared by public and private university students, Azad said that private university students had managed to secure a mentionable place in the competition.
He said there were some countries in the world where private universities were leading the higher education arena and doing challenging innovations and hoped that the same thing would happen in Bangladesh in the future.
The UGC chief, however, said some private universities were also involved in the certificate trade, and he urged the relevant universities to sell ideas instead of certificates.
He stressed that the students should master the English language to succeed in the competitive job market, pointing out that even the French were now learning this language even though they had refused to do so for a long time, considering it a rival to their own language.
Andy Curtis, president of International TESOL, presented the key note speech. Among others, ULAB’s English and Humanities Department Professor Kaiser Hamidul Haq spoke at the seminar.