Dhaka University has been witnessing a decline in the number of foreign student enrolment in the recent years, fuelled by political instability and declining academic quality.
According to sources at the DU, only six foreign students enrolled at the university in the past five annual student intakes. Among them, two students took admission in the 2014-15 intake, their admission process still under way.
Besides, foreigners interested in pursuing a DU degree are mostly from a few Asian countries, such as India, Pakistan, Nepal and China.
Several education experts said this decline of foreign student population in the country’s premier institute for higher education is most likely caused by Bangla being a major medium of instruction, as well as the rise of quality of higher eduction in those students’ own countries.
Syed Manzoorul Islam, professor at DU’s English department, agreed: “Political instability here indeed causes the lack of interest among foreign students in choosing DU for higher education; so does the degrading quality of education.”
An unimpressive position of the DU on the latest world university rankings does not help the matter either, as the experts opined.
In the 2014-15 QS World University Rankings, there were no Bangladeshi universities among the top 200 universities in the world. The DU ranked 701st, same as 2013 and dropping from 601 in 2012 and 527 in 2007. Even on the QS list of top 150 Asian universities, no Bangladeshi universities were found.
Similarly, in 2014 Academic Ranking of World Universities, also known as Shanghai Rankings, no Bangladeshi universities made it to the list of the top 500 universities.
Prof Mazoor told the Dhaka Tribune: “Once upon a time, Dhaka University had a good reputation among the Asian universities, but in recent years it has lost its standing. Meanwhile, universities in our neighbouring countries have developed to provide better education than us, achieving good positions on the world rankings and convincing the foreign students to choose those institutions instead.” He also mentioned inadequate housing facilities as a possible demotivating factor.
Tedious admission process
The lengthy and difficult admission process for the foreign students is another major reason why foreigners feel discouraged to apply at the DU, experts said.
Under the current system, a foreigner at first has to apply to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the Bangladesh embassy, and then to the Ministry of Home Affairs. Upon receiving their approvals, the student then has to contact the DU for admission, which is done online and takes at least two or three months to get processed.
In addition, the admission seekers cannot get sufficient information at the DU website as it is not regularly updated. The university does not have a separate office for international students either.
Hamidur Rahman, assistant registrar at the DU scholarship department, said the university authorities had decided to open a separate section for international admission. “When that section is open and functional, we will get more foreign students,” he said.
Mansa Shah, a Nepali student who is a resident at Sir PJ Hartog International Hall, said the foreign students faced several problems while studying at the DU, namely high tuition fees, lack of part-time job opportunities, political instability, and the language barrier.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Prof Shahid Akhter Hossain, pro vice-chancellor (administration) at the DU, admitted that the international students faced several problems here.
He also acknowledged the lack of vital information on the university website: “Our website is not up-to-date, but we are trying to include more information for the foreign students.”
Regarding the low number of enrolment, he said: “The standard of education in the countries of those students have improved, which is why students from those countries, especially the Asian ones, are not coming here as much as before.”
Assuring that an international student office would be opened soon, Prof Shahid said: “We plan to open a separate office to oversee the admission process of international students so that they can directly take admission at the DU from the next academic session.”
However, DU Vice-Chancellor Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique told the Dhaka Tribune that the foreign student population at the DU was decreasing, but a large number of them were still taking admission at the Institute of Modern Languages and the medical colleges under the university.
“The countries from which students came to Bangladesh for higher education now provide better education themselves, which is why the number of students from those countries coming to the DU has fallen,” he said.
But the VC refuted the claim that the education quality at the DU was on the decline, terming the international ranking process faulty.
