The lack of technical knowledge and job-specific skills, and also institutional weakness in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) are preventing growth in the country's industrial sector, said speakers at a seminar yesterday.
They said the country's industrial sector is expanding and thus human resource development is a key matter for the purpose of achieving national goals in this sector.
The seminar organised by IC Net Limited was held at the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) in the capital.
Findings from a survey were presented at the seminar, and one of the key findings was that skilled foreign workers have a dominance in the country's industrial sector.
The survey, jointly conducted by DTE, Bangladesh Technical Education Board (BTEB) and IC Net, showed that the level of satisfaction with graduates was moderately high but weaknesses were also observed. Lack of technical knowledge among graduates was found to be 14.2%, and lack of job-specific skills 9.8%.
Of the surveyed organisations, 32.8% said they had hired foreign workers for 58.2% of the high-level managerial positions and 26.9% of the mid-level managerial posts.
The survey was carried out among 322 manufacturing companies in Dhaka and Chittagong from January 12 to February 11 this year. Lecturers of polytechnic institutes joined as interviewers and consultants contributed to the technical aspects of the survey.
The findings of the survey showed that competitiveness, integrated knowledge and skills, practical experience to complete an entire project, problem solving capacities, creativity and critical thinking skills are demanded by employers.
“Because of the lack of qualified human resource in the local market, companies are recruiting foreigners, especially for mid- and high-level managerial posts. Graduates from the TVET institutions can fill such positions,” said Dr Takujiro Ito, senior consultant at IC Net Limited who presented the survey findings.
Dr Md Mostafizur Rahman, chairman of Bangladesh Technical Education Board, Yumi Yamaguchi, country representative of IC Net Limited, Yoshinaga Nakamura, consultant at IC Net Limited, Ashoke Kumar Biswas, additional secretary at the Ministry of Education were present at the seminar among others.
