M M Jasim :
The number of foreign students is alarmingly decreasing in the Dhaka University on account of volatile political situation, difficult admission process and fall of quality education.
University sources said that six foreign students only got themselves admitted into the university in the last five academic sessions compared with 24 in 2000-2001.
Foreign students have to apply through online for admission to Dhaka University (DU), once known as the Oxford of the East, and it takes at least two to three months to complete necessary process.
Admission seekers do not get sufficient and latest information because the DU website is not updated regularly. As a result, they are losing their interest in the Dhaka University.
Besides, the university does not have any separate section to deal with the foreign students.
DU Scholarship Section Assistant Registrar Hamidur Rahman said that the university took a decision to open a separate section for foreign students’ but it has not been opened yet. “‘If we do it, we will get more students in future,” he added.
A total of 24 foreign students got themselves enrolled in 2000-2001 academic sessions while 22 in 2001-2002 sessions. Twelve students got themselves admitted in 2002-2003 while nine students in 2003-2004, five in 2004-2005, four in 2005-2006, seven in 2006-2007, three in 2007-2008, six in 2008-09, two in 2009-2010, one student each in 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 academic sessions. No foreign student took admission in 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 sessions. However, two students only enrolled themselves into the institution in 2014-15 sessions while admission of two more is under process.
Besides, the students of India, Pakistan, Nepal and China have access to DU. Mohammad Aziz, a Pakistani national, who is a resident student of Sir PJ Hartog International Hall of DU, said, they have to spend some four lakh taka in a year to study at DU, which is very high. In addition, political unrest is also a barrier, he said.
According to the QS World University Rankings for 2014-15 released on September 16 this year, DU stands 701, unchanged from previous year. Its position was 527 in 2007 and 601 in 2012.
The QS rankings listed top 200 international universities based on research quality, graduate employment, staff to student ratios, teaching standards and the number of international students.
Even in the QS ranking of Asian universities, Bangladeshi universities failed to secure a place among the top 150. Dhaka University is at 171-180. However, in terms of Asian universities, DU’s position has improved than the previous year when it was between 201-250.
Earlier in August, Academic Ranking of World Universities, also known as the Shanghai Rankings, released its 2014 top 500 universities list, where no Bangladesh university could be found as well.
Talking to The New Nation DU Social Science Faculty Dean and DU Teachers’ Association (DUTA) President Professor Farid Uddin Ahmad said, lengthy admission process is discouraging foreign students.
In this regard, he said, foreign students intending to get themselves admitted to Dhaka University firstly have to apply to Bangladesh foreign ministry through embassy and then to the home ministry. Finally they have to communicate with Dhaka University and it is really a lengthy process, he said.
“We have a plan to open a separate section to deal in the admission process of the foreign students to make the process easy,” he added.
About the university’s digitalisation, he said, the university did not get enough fund to develop its IT sector. “We will try to increase budget for IT sector in the future,” he added.
Citing DU’s poor position in World University Ratings, Prof Farid Uddin said, “We can hardly attend any international symposium or submit research papers in international journals due to poor support from the DU authorities. That is why the university does not get good position in global ranking.”
When contacted, DU Vice-Chancellor Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique said, the number of foreign students is decreasing at DU but a large number of them are taking admission to the Modern Language Institute and medical colleges under the university. They prefer IT education, he said.
The DU VC criticised the university ranking process for the universities saying that most of the institutions involved in the process did not introduce reverse system while publishing the ranking list.
“Our socio-economic condition is not like that of the developed countries. We have to produce quality graduates under limited facilities but I think their quality of education is of international standard.”
The DU VC also said, “If the world ranking is published in a fair way, I think DU will secure better position and foreign students will come to the university in a larger number.”
