A meeting on the World Bank’s proposed Higher Education and Transformation (HEAT) project, aiming to improve national and regional bodies involved in higher education and research, was held in Dhaka on Sunday.
HEAT is being undertaken at the joint request of Bangladesh and Afghanistan to assist in particular with the development of the Asian University for Women (AUW) located in Chittagong.
The Prime Minister’s International Affairs Advisor Gowher Rizvi welcomed the contemplated investment in AUW, which he noted “has already earned the country a national and international reputation for the superb education it provides.”
“It is time that more resources, national and international, are devoted to augmenting this emblem of excellence in higher education in Bangladesh, and indeed in the region,” he said.
Once formally initiated, HEAT will be the first-ever regional project in higher education in South Asia aided by the World Bank.
The project is envisaged to invest $200 million for a range of developments in higher education in Bangladesh and in the region.
Apart from Rizvi, Bangladesh Investment Development Authority Executive Chairman Kazi M Aminul Islam, AUW Vice-Chancellor Professor Nirmala Rao and former principal secretary Abdul Karim also attended the meeting.
The importance of higher education in accelerating Bangladesh’s economic and social progress was reviewed in the meeting, which also focused on the need for centres of excellence in education and research.
Professor Nirmala said with the World Bank’s assistance, AUW will be able to significantly scale-up its operations, benefiting thousands more women from Bangladesh and the entire Asian region.
AUW was chartered by parliament in 2006 and hosts students from 16 countries.
Seven AUW graduates have already entered Oxford University with full scholarship, a feat unmatched by most institutions, said Rizvi, himself an internationally renowned political scientist and a former Rhodes scholar.
