Leading educationists on Thursday said students should be built as competent workforce through providing quality education to cope with international demands. Bangladesh has achieved good progress in terms of expansion of education and it should give focus on quality education, they told a post-conference media briefing on ‘Going Global-2014’ in a city hotel.
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid, chairman of University Grants Commission (UGC) Prof Abul Kalam Azad Chowdhury, Vice Chancellor of Dhaka University Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique, director programmes and partnership of British Council, Bangladesh Robin Davies, among others, addressed the press briefing.
Nahid said as a Least Developed Country (LDC), Bangladesh can learn a lot from the Going Global conference to improve quality of education.
Success of education sector drew special attention to the participants of the mega education event, he said adding improving of quality is still a big challenge for Bangladesh. “The country has nearly five million students. This vast size of students should be turned into human capital through providing modern education,” he added.
Despite financial limitation, Prof Azad said, Bangladesh has done well in terms of expansion of education, which has been praised internationally.
The government is allocating money for expansion of research works, he said adding investment should be increased on research work to create skilled people to ensure better access to the job markets.
Bangladeshi students have done well in many developed countries, Prof Arefin said they can do better if adequate opportunities are given.
“So, we should build our students as global citizens through giving them quality education,” he added.
Going Global is an annual conference hosted by the British Council, which offers an open forum for global leaders of international education to discuss current issues. Since 2004, it has grown from a biennial event in the UK to an annual event alternating between the UK and major international cities. Going Global-2014 was the biggest ever gathering of higher education leaders. More than 1,500 delegates attended Going Global 2014 at Miami Beach International Convention Centre from April 29. Seventy countries were represented at the conference, including 125 university presidents, vice-chancellors, pro-vice-chancellors and government ministers.
The chosen themes for Going Global 2014 were ‘inclusion, innovation and impact’.
