Public and private university education in Bangladesh : a comparative analysis for policy implications | |
| Author | Islam, Sabrina |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.RD-07-12 |
| Subject(s) | Private universities and colleges--Bangladesh Public universities and colleges--Bangladesh |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Regional and Rural Development Planning |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | The massive privatization of university education in Bangladesh has vital policy implications creating diverse impact on the whole society and the system. Thus, the main objectives of the research were to know the current situation of the public and private universities under study and respondents, describe the policy aspects and find out implementation bases both in public and private universities in Dhaka city, to assess the impacts on the students of the privatized business and computer science university education and to obtain feedback and perception of the students, teachers, education experts, policy makers and the employers and make recommendations for improvement. The study was accomplished by discovering facts and figures from 3 public universities and institution: DU, BUET and IBA and four private universities: NSU, IUB, BU and EWU, the UGC and some reputed companies in Bangladesh. This exploratory qualitative research was focused on key informant interviews, focus group discussions and case studies while using quantitative information to corroborate the findings through a standardized questionnaire survey. The research revealed that the Private Universities were established with the policies of meeting the high demand of higher education where Public Universities were not being able to absorb most of the students passing high school degree and also for government policy. Both the Public and the Private Universities are able to meet most of the policy needs except for having some political violence on campus and moving to their own campus respectively. It was also found that the private universities are not only for the rich people as perceived by many. The students of both the types of universities come from different strata of the society: mostly middle class for public ones and upper-middle or upper class for the private ones. But, it was also found during the study that no poor student gets the chance to get into either public or private university for Business Studies (BBA) or Computer Science and Engineering. And this is creating such a student class, who are intended towards the high end of the job market; especially multinational and bank jobs. Thus, these students will be at the upper-middle class or upper class eventually and the social exclusion will remain as it is or increase further. The students' expectations are proved to be fulfilled and the return is supposed to be satisfactory with the private university students having almost equal opportunity for employment as the public ones. After analyzing the findings, some important recommendations are given for public universities to ensure faculty availability, on time graduation, restructure the tuition fee payments, stop on campus politics etc. On the other hand, for private universities the suggestions are to ensure fulltime faculty, reduce fees, stop politicization of the top management and compliance with the policy with proper monitoring. With these prescriptions properly met and modifications made, it will not be wrong to say that the private universities have a good future as an alternative to public university education to sustain in the market with better education having very good standard and can settle in the market being at the position as good as the top ranked public universities in the country. However, if the public universities continue to being politicized, there is a high risk of loosing credibility and collapse in near future. |
| Year | 2007 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Rural Development, Gender and Resources (RD) |
| Chairperson(s) | Ahmad, Mokbul Morshed; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Routray, Jayant Kumar;Dimmitt, Nicholas J.; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | AIT Fellowship; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2007 |