Politicised teacher recruitment a bane for public universities
Courtesy New Age 4/5/10
Professor Nazrul Islam, chairman of the University Grants Commission, tells New Age
by Shahidul Islam Chowdhury and Mushfique Wadud
SUCCESSIVE governments and authorities of the four major public universities—Dhaka University, Chittagong University, Rajshahi University and Jahangirnagar University—have violated the 1973 University Act in the appointment of vice-chancellor, claims the outgoing chairman of the University Grants Commission, Professor Nazrul Islam.
`Sadly, it is now a reality that if you do not belong to the pro-government group, your chance to become the vice-chancellor is very slim,' he said in an exclusive interview with New Age on Tuesday.
`…teacher recruitment has become politicised,' said Professor Islam, whose tenure at the helm of the commission expires tomorrow. `As a result, party-neutral people become victims.'
He believes the quality of higher education in general has gone down because of poor teaching environment.
Professor Islam, a teacher of geography and environment at
He stressed the need for partnership between universities and businesses.
Professor Islam, whose tenure at the statutory body for supervision, maintenance, promotion and coordination of university education ran through both elected and unelected governments, believes a democratically elected government is better than a military-backed regime for the higher education system.
Excerpts:
In a number of its annual reports, the University Grants Commission has said that most of the public and private universities have failed to fulfil the nation's aspiration and need for higher education. What is your view on the mismatch between the growing number of universities and their failure?
Mismatch between quality and quantity in higher education is very common and very normal. We, of course, try to strike a balance and normally identify a triangle.
The first arm of the triangle is quantity or access to education — the people who wish to get education or seek education. The demand for higher education is very high here.
The second arm, i.e. quality of education, is equally important. Education without quality is not meaningful but quality is difficult to ensure. While physical infrastructure such as building, classrooms and equipment is required, quality of education depends on adequate number of qualified and relevant teachers.
The third arm of the triangle is related to affordability, i.e. cost of education. People would naturally like to have the best education at the lowest cost. However, high quality education involves substantial investment. If it is a government institution, the cost is borne by the government, essentially by the taxpayers' money.
We currently have 34 public universities. Two of these—the
The government bears the expenditure of these universities through the University Grants Commission. At present, we spend about Tk 1,000 crore a year, which is quite inadequate. In my estimation, we need to spend roughly three times more to keep these universities up to a reasonable standard.
The private universities, on the other hand, foot their expenditures with tuition fees paid by the students. There are 54 private universities; the better ones are very expensive, at least four times more expensive than the rest. In other words, if you want quality education even in
In short, it is not easy to strike a balance between quantity, quality and affordability.
Why can Bangladeshi universities not have good positions in international ratings?
The quality of university education in
Publication in international journals is a major indicator for international ratings. Our teachers are generally not too keen in this regard. Some of them do publish in local Bangla journals but these publications do not go into web reference, which eventually brings the international ratings down. Then there is question of infrastructure. Our public universities do have land and good buildings even but are very poor when it comes to library and lab facilities.
Moreover, teaching environment is not very good. Political, social and many other reasons are responsible for bad teaching environment. Our universities are sometimes close down for strike. This is not a problem for a university in
Many people believe it is not possible to get recruited as a teacher or secure an important position in public universities without a political identity. It is also believed that the post of vice-chancellor in public universities is a political post, which is why the teachers are more interested in politics than teaching. Is it not detrimental to higher education and research?
Politicisation of university education is a very serious issue. Academic recruitment should be beyond politics. However, the reality is that teacher recruitment has become politicised. It is an unfortunate reality that if you do not belong to the pro-government group, your chance to become a vice chancellor is very slim. As a result, party-neutral people become victims.
While it is not a factor in some universities, it is a factor in many others. There are two things — quality of teachers and political identity. It may happen that the recruitment is political but the quality is maintained. I would like to stress that even if the recruitment is political the quality should not be compromised. Similarly, even if a vice-chancellor is politically recruited, he or she should be above politics once he or she is appointed.
Research is said to be the backbone of a university. Does politicisation of teacher recruitment not hamper research?
Research is absolutely essential for improvement of higher education and creating new knowledge. As I said, party or no party, it should definitely go for good quality. Within the party affiliation, I am sure you can get good teachers. They should have research background or aptitude for research. Research funding must be enhanced. Business people and even individuals should come forward for research funding.
Hardly any fundamental and applied research is done here. Why?
As a developing country, we have many constraints. Fundamental or basic research in sciences is necessary. But for us, more applied research is important. However, research should be in all subjects — from geology to fine arts. Any subject taught in university must also be based on research. But there should be priority— for example, more money for agriculture, more money for health, more money for food production, environmental study, and disaster management, etc.
Where does
Unfortunately, the standing is not good. I would not say science and technology education in
What is your view on the relations between industrial and commercial sectors and universities?
It is very much necessary. If you want reality-based education, an industry- academia alliance is extremely important. For example, the biggest industry in our country is the ready garment industry. If it demands faculties on fashion designing, why don't we go for fashion designing? Pharmaceuticals are one of the best export items in
The government and the commission are considering approval for several new private universities although most of the existing private universities are run properly. Why?
There are already 54 private universities. So the question of necessity of more private universities is a relevant one. Two things are important in this regard. First, out of 54 private universities, only a few are considered to have quality, according to a review in 2005. Last year, when the Private University Act 2010 was approved, we found that only eight, out the 54, have met the minimum requirements — own campus, own land and other infrastructure. Not all of the eight are good; just some of them. But the private universities were supposed to comply with all requirements — land, building facility, adequate teachers and so on. Many private universities neither have the infrastructure nor the quality of education. They should be stopped. It may so happen that some of the old private universities would be closed down.
The idea of more universities is to attract new educational entrepreneurs and sponsors of new universities. The government is hoping that new universities will try to comply with the basic requirements.
Secondly, since there are many universities in
A section of politicians and businessmen sought permission to set up private universities. What is your assessment of the trend?
We will consider them entrepreneurs of higher education. People like them have established school, colleges and are now coming to the field of higher education. The government can consider them if they offer good education— whether they have good trustee board members, good faculty members and necessary infrastructure. The advantage with them is that they can invest a lot of money. Hopefully, they will not be too keen to make money from private universities.
What is your view about the huge disparity in admission and tuition fees and teachers' salaries between public and private universities?
In general, good private universities offer competitive salary to teachers. On the contrary, the public universities have a uniform salary structure. The highest pay for a senior professor in a public university is Tk 40,000 plus house rent and other facilities, whereas a senior professor in some good private universities gets Tk 1 lakh or more. The ordinary private universities really do not pay the teachers that much.
Salary in public universities may be low but the job security is high. In public, university, tuition fee is not that much. In private universities, job security for teachers is not good. Student's fees vary widely from one private university to the other. In some top private universities, BBA costs Tk 8 lakh but it costs Tk 2-3 lakh in the ordinary ones.
Yes, the tuition fee is very high in respect of the country's socioeconomic condition but the private universities have to charge high tuition fee as it is their only source of income.
What is your view about the government's refusal to accept the demands from some students and their guardians for a provision in the Private University Act 2010 empowering the UGC to fix tuition fees of private universities?
There were discussions about this but later it seemed more reasonable not to do so. It was a moral pressure. We have two people on the syndicate of private universities — one from the UGC and one from the government. When the universities fix the tuition fees or set salaries for teachers, these two representatives can and should play their role in keeping them reasonable. However, it is a moral, not legal, issue.
Do you think that the University Ordinance 1973 should be amended for ensuring transparency and accountability of public university management and teachers keeping autonomy of the universities?
Only four public universities—
Difference of these four universities with other universities is in the process of appointment of the vice chancellors and the deans of faculties. The deans are elected by faculty members.
The senate is supposed to nominate a three-member panel to the chancellor to appoint the vice-chancellor from. It is again a difficult political process.
Unfortunately, the senate elections of the universities have not been held for many years and that's why the senate cannot nominate panels for appointments of the vice-chancellor. And thus the government appoints the vice-chancellor. By doing so the governments and the university authorities are violating the ordinance.
Curiously, there is no demand for senate elections. It seems that almost everybody has accepted the modified version of the system for appointing a vice-chancellor. In fact, the government and the university authorities should take initiative to hold senate elections.
You have described the process of appointing vice-chancellors to the four public universities as a modified version of the system. Did mean to say a distorted version?
I meant the system is not working. You can say it is a deviation from the actual process and has given rise to the norm that the aspirants for the post of vice-chancellor should remain in the good book of the government in particular, and the powers that be in general.
Has the UGC taken any action against the authorities for corruption and irregularities in public universities?
During my tenure as the UGC chairman, there has hardly been any monetary corruption in public universities. There may have been some irregularities but most of these have been regularised.
The UGC has placed many recommendations to successive governments seeking to ensure quality in higher education. How many of these recommendations have been accepted and implemented so far?
The governments have accepted several recommendations including increase in the retirement age of public university teachers to 65 years.
However, many recommendations including introduction of a separate pay scale for public university teachers and increase in allocation for higher education and research are yet to be implemented.
One thing I must say though that the university teachers here enjoy a great deal of freedom. Yes, it is a democratic right but sometimes some of them go too much. They need to enjoy freedom with adequate accountability.
You, as the UGC chairman, have worked with both a non-elected interim government and an elected government. Which government have you found better for higher education?
I prefer a democratically elected political government. Many unfortunate things happened during the last caretaker government which was backed by the military. They tried to control me. They threatened me. But there was not a single request from the current government.
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