UNB, Dhaka :
As there is a serious lack of research activities at the university level in Bangladesh, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has proposed to build a research university in the country.
“We’re still lagging behind when it comes to research works. Our universities mainly focus on teaching, not research. In our (UGC) 2016-2026 strategic plan, we’ve proposed to establish a research university where there’ll be no undergraduate courses,” UGC chairman Abdul Mannan said in an interview with UNB.
The UGC regularly finances in research activities with a view to encouraging teachers to conduct research. Some good researches are being conducted in science and agriculture. This year we’ve increased research budget by 75 percent for every public university,” said Prof Mannan.
“We’re exploring opportunities to conduct joint research with educational institutions of different countries,” he added. There is no link between country’s university and the industrial sector, the UGC Chairman said adding, “We’ve inspired the universities to undertake joint research projects with industrial units and we also have financed those projects under Academic Innovation Fund.” Mentioning that Bangladesh’s universities lack commissioned research, Prof Mannan said the country’s industrial organisations are active to buy patent from other countries but they do not use the scientists of their own country to get outcome from research. “If it happens then the patent of any specific thing will be our own. We have big factories of pharmaceutical companies. But they don’t use own patent. ….they can ask pharmacy departments of Dhaka and Jahangirnagar Universities to conduct research for them,” he said.
In reply to a question as to why Bangladeshi universities do not get good place in the world ranking, the UGC chairman said those who conduct ranking use some parameters, and for Bangladesh it is not possible to fulfill those in near future. “The institutes that conduct ranking collect information from the website of the respective universities. But the websites of our universities are very weak. We work a lot but it is not
available in our websites,” the UGC head added.
The parameters include how many noble laureates teach at the university, the financial contributions of alumni, quantity of commissioned research (conduct by university financed by industrial organisation), he mentioned.
The main challenge of higher education is to maintain its quality, observed the chairman and said, “We’re happy about the number of students as currently 32 lakh students are receiving higher education in different institutions. But the biggest challenge is to maintain the standard of higher education whether it is at university level or medical college, technical and madrasa level.”
Considering the challenge, the government initiated a separate and specific project in 2009, ‘Higher Education Quality Enhancement Project (HEQEP)’, with assistance from the World Bank to enhance the quality of higher education, Prof Mannan said. “The objective of the project was to ensure congenial academic atmosphere in classrooms, provide training to teachers and introduce them with modern technologies,” he said.
As there is a serious lack of research activities at the university level in Bangladesh, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has proposed to build a research university in the country.
“We’re still lagging behind when it comes to research works. Our universities mainly focus on teaching, not research. In our (UGC) 2016-2026 strategic plan, we’ve proposed to establish a research university where there’ll be no undergraduate courses,” UGC chairman Abdul Mannan said in an interview with UNB.
The UGC regularly finances in research activities with a view to encouraging teachers to conduct research. Some good researches are being conducted in science and agriculture. This year we’ve increased research budget by 75 percent for every public university,” said Prof Mannan.
“We’re exploring opportunities to conduct joint research with educational institutions of different countries,” he added. There is no link between country’s university and the industrial sector, the UGC Chairman said adding, “We’ve inspired the universities to undertake joint research projects with industrial units and we also have financed those projects under Academic Innovation Fund.” Mentioning that Bangladesh’s universities lack commissioned research, Prof Mannan said the country’s industrial organisations are active to buy patent from other countries but they do not use the scientists of their own country to get outcome from research. “If it happens then the patent of any specific thing will be our own. We have big factories of pharmaceutical companies. But they don’t use own patent. ….they can ask pharmacy departments of Dhaka and Jahangirnagar Universities to conduct research for them,” he said.
In reply to a question as to why Bangladeshi universities do not get good place in the world ranking, the UGC chairman said those who conduct ranking use some parameters, and for Bangladesh it is not possible to fulfill those in near future. “The institutes that conduct ranking collect information from the website of the respective universities. But the websites of our universities are very weak. We work a lot but it is not
available in our websites,” the UGC head added.
The parameters include how many noble laureates teach at the university, the financial contributions of alumni, quantity of commissioned research (conduct by university financed by industrial organisation), he mentioned.
The main challenge of higher education is to maintain its quality, observed the chairman and said, “We’re happy about the number of students as currently 32 lakh students are receiving higher education in different institutions. But the biggest challenge is to maintain the standard of higher education whether it is at university level or medical college, technical and madrasa level.”
Considering the challenge, the government initiated a separate and specific project in 2009, ‘Higher Education Quality Enhancement Project (HEQEP)’, with assistance from the World Bank to enhance the quality of higher education, Prof Mannan said. “The objective of the project was to ensure congenial academic atmosphere in classrooms, provide training to teachers and introduce them with modern technologies,” he said.
