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The two universities from Bangladesh, the University of Dhaka (DU) and the North South University, which for the first time placed themselves in the 601-800 bracket of the Times Higher Education (THE) ranking of 2023 slipped to the next level in its 2024 ranking released recently. But two other universities --one public and the other private -- the Jahangirnagar University and the Brac University have also made it to the list of the top 801-1,000 ranked world universities. On paper, it gives the impression that two universities of each category have lost positions and two others have improved their rankings to find themselves in the same bracket.
It could be a mixed feeling but unfortunately the slip for two and the ascension of another two to the 801-1,00 band do not make the country proud so far as the quality of higher education in the country is concerned. That not a single highest seat of learning makes its entry into the top 500 band is quite unfortunate. Instead, the loss of ground by the two who for the first time moved to the 601-800 tier and raised hope of doing even better has disappointed people who follow the two popular world university ranking systems -- THE and Quacquarelli Symonds.
That the country's higher education institutions (HEI) make screaming headlines more for negative developments rather than groundbreaking knowledge creation or discoveries is for nothing. True, a huge army of aspiring candidates vie for a place in the Bangladesh University of Engineering Technology (BUET) and DU. But had there been an option to pursue education abroad for them, an overwhelming majority would grab the opportunity. The more ambitious and talented ultimately leave the country at the first opportunity and in most cases have to pursue the graduation or masters course once again abroad before enrolling for a PhD degree.
It is not difficult to see why students are so keen to pursue higher studies abroad and even undergo the regour of repeating degrees abroad. Primarily, an absence of academic excellence and research opportunities even in the best of the institutions of higher studies at home made further worse by vicious divisive political influence over almost all academic affairs ranging from seat occupation in dormitories to appointment of faculties disappoints them about their future here. A large majority of HEIs have not even been affiliated with the global accrediting bodies.
No wonder, a study conducted by the World Economic Forum (WEF) on the youths of the world in 2018, finds that not only a large majority of the young people from Bangladesh but also from the entire South Asia want to leave their countries for studies and living abroad. As high as 82 per cent of the young population make their option clear in favour of their future in a foreign land. The finding of another study conducted by the Org-Quest Research Limited and sponsored by the Prothom Alo corresponds to that of the WEF as the youths of the same percentage from Bangladesh also like to leave it.
What it all means is that today's young population cannot repose hopes in the institutions of higher studies or for that matter of lower tiers. There is a serious mismatch between education and employment. Education at the primary and secondary or higher secondary levels does not give them the skill sets to pursue a gainful career and those studying at the tertiary level also confront a bleak future. Only the crop that can make it to the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) cadres feels contended because the perks and positions are enviable there.
Again, engineers from the BUET and medical graduates who form the upper crust of the talent pool of students consider it quite disheartening when they discover that they are under the mediocre or above mediocre students-turned bureaucrats. In recent times, medical graduates and engineers are also competing for places in the administrative cadre. What it all means is that the subjects students pursue are relegated to the back burners in preference for the BCS. Those who do not prefer bureaucratic jobs look for avenues to advance their studies and careers abroad.
The scene that unfolds in the process is quite gloomy. Brain drain is drastically depleting the country's talent pool on the one hand and on the other dissociating the young generation from families and the land of their birth. Already the bellow par are reigning supreme in every field of national life. Bloated loan default, non-performing loans (NPL) to be precise, money laundering, corruption and bribery are some of the social and economic ills and vices that are enough to produce nausea among young and innocent population. If they seek freedom from such a stifling socio-economic atmosphere, they can hardly be blamed.
Education could be the touchstone to revive the wayward and digressed elements to their senses. Indeed, the country's glorious student legacy has been sacrificed at the altar of narrow and vicious politics. There was a need for keeping the sanctity of seats of higher studies immune from any outside influence. Also, higher education needed more allocation for improving rating on the basis of the matrices the ranking bodies follow -- such as academics, research, citations/faculty, industrial support and internationalisation. Left alone in capable hands and given required supports, universities in this country could rival at least the best in Asia.