State of our private universities

Very few would contest the need in Bangladesh for private universities to cater to the rising demand for quality higher education. But no body would disagree with the view that most of the private universities fail to meet the minimum criterion to impart higher education.

The report has revealed some startling and at the same time disconcerting facts that give rise to a few questions which merit answers.

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One cannot help but conclude from the findings and recommendations of the report that the demand for higher education has been exploited by private ventures to the extent that not only has this been blatantly commercialised it has also assumed a disquieting dimension.

As many as between 40 and 45 of the 52 private universities have failed to meet the criterion prescribed in the Private Universities Act of 1992. The committee has also recommended shutting down eight of those for violation of rules.

The obvious question is, given the existence of strict criteria and ground rules in setting up a private university, why were these universities given a go ahead without their fulfilling the prerequisites, in the first place? Surely, permission for an important thing like a university to operate should have been given more judiciously to begin with.

While the errant university authorities must be held accountable for their failures, it is difficult to see how the relevant authorities can absolve themselves of the responsibility for allowing the situation to come to such a pass.

We feel that that no amount of political pressure should come in the way of implementation of the report. It ought to be done sooner rather than later.