[University World News] BANGLADESH: Private universities meet demand

http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20090122194001148

The system of private universities is a relatively new concept in Bangladesh. Because of the ever-growing demand for education at the university level, and the fact that existing public universities could not meet the need, the government passed a Private Universities Act in 1992. Starting with a handful, the number of private universities has grown rapidly and stands at 54 to date, compared with 21 public universities.

Part of the reason is that Bangladesh has one of the fastest-growing populations in the world, increasing from 45 million in 1971 to more than 145 million today. But private universities are also popular because the public institutions could not offer enough places in courses of high demand so students opted for lesser-known universities rather than study a subject which might not have good job prospects.

The private universities have capitalised on this situation by limiting what they offer to a few disciplines such as business, computer science, engineering, medicine and so on which are very much in demand in the job market.

A University Grants Commission report says the standard of education in most of the public universities is not up to the mark. The reasons include student politics, irregular and interrupted classes and examinations, unsatisfactory teacher-student ratios and so forth. In contrast, most of these problems are non-existent in the private universities.

Prior to their introduction, most students were not able to enrol in the esteemed public universities and had few options left to them. Some went abroad to study, the majority going to India and a few to the US, UK and Australia.

Eventually, Bangladesh began to suffer from the loss of huge amounts of hard-earned foreign currency, and also the loss of many of its then highly qualified citizens – the brain-drain factor.

So the private universities have directly helped in saving foreign currency as well as reducing the brain drain. Many scholarships are also available for students with brilliant academic results although they are also popular with those who face financial constraints. Critics say more need-based scholarships should be available to create opportunities for a higher number of deserving candidates.

Although some of the universities have come under fire for failing to deliver what they had promised, it has to be remembered that Bangladesh’s whole system of higher education is still in its development stage.

In the US, as well as in many other countries around the world, private universities and colleges are as good as the public ones, if not better at times. MIT, Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Dartmouth are all private institutions. In Bangladesh, many private universities are also excellent education institutions.

[University World News] BANGLADESH: University has big impact on public health

http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=2008111315093225

With a vision of a world where everyone enjoys the maximum potential of health, the James P Grant School of Public Health at BRAC University in Dhaka has made a significant mark in public health education in Bangladesh and in South Asia in general.

One of the first public health institutions in the region was the school of tropical medicine, set up in Kolkata in 1922. After that, similar institutions soon began to appear but, according to a WHO report, most of those in India and other South Asian countries failed to create a major impact because of “neglect, assignment of lowest priority, low prestige, poor quality of staff, and inadequate facilities such as transport and field practice areas”.

To integrate community experiences in public health education, the Rockefeller Foundation helped set up a few schools of public health in Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Zimbabwe and Vietnam. But the number was much less than that needed to meet the demand.

To address the many problems public health is facing, and to test new teaching and learning methodologies, the Bangladesh company BRAC, one of the largest development organisations in the world, set up a school of public health in Dhaka.

Named after the late Executive Director of Unicef, the James P Grant School of Public Health is breaking new ground in innovative teaching – and in creating leaders for public health in developing countries.

During the school’s establishment, BRAC collaborated with prestigious public health schools in developed countries, including Johns Hopkins and Columbia universities, to develop the curriculum. Guest professors from those schools also teach in some of the school’s courses.

“The idea of setting up the school grew from BRAC’s continued effort in alleviating poverty in disadvantaged parts of the world,” says Professor AMR Choudhury, dean of the school.

Since its commencement in 2005, three batches of 77 participants from 14 countries have graduated from the school through its master of public health (MPH) programme. In the current academic year are 12 students from 11 countries of Asia, Africa, Europe and North America, and 18 students from Bangladesh.

While some students from the earlier classes have continued on to doctoral-level studies, most are now back in their own countries and have taken up jobs in various government, donor agency, media and non-governmental organisations.

The James P Grant School has several features which make it stand apart from its counterparts:

* It emphasises the art and science elements of public health. Apart from the MPH and the several other short courses the school offers, faculty members are involved in research on important issues that Bangladesh and other low-income countries face.
* The location of the school is in a developing country, thus providing a ’social laboratory’ for teaching and learning.
* The fact that it is placed in a development organisation such as BRAC which is committed to helping the poor and the disadvantaged, and which tries to blur the artificial divide between health and development and its vast human, material and infrastructural resources.

In the December 2007 issue of the widely circulated Bulletin of the World Health Organisation, the school has been featured and the article states that, “[The school] is one of a new breed of public health institutions based in a developing country. It offers courses relevant to Bangladesh as well as international public health issues, and attracts students from both developing and developed countries.”

The World Bank global health equity project has provided funding to:

* The Centre for Health Systems Studies of the school which has the potential to strengthen the health system in Bangladesh by informing, guiding and systematically evaluating policies of the health sector and to promote population health. In addition to launching the Health Watch Report, the centre has undertaken a number of research activities. Currently, a study is being done on the public-private partnership service delivery models in Bangladesh.
* The Centre for Gender, Sexuality and HIV-AIDS, established in collaboration with UNAids, is designated for research, policy, advocacy and training activities utilising state-of-the-art methods and technologies of teaching and learning, and providing unique opportunities in hands-on field experience in dealing with gender, sexuality and HIV-AIDS in Bangladesh and other developing countries.

Modern healthcare is about disease control and MPH is about learning methods and techniques to control disease at the grassroots levels in developing countries, including Bangladesh. The James P Grant School of Public Health, through its continued quest for success, should serve as a model for similar institutions in Bangladesh and in other South Asian countries.

[University World News] BANGLADESH: Responding to global challenges

http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=2008102409435588
The Asia Regional Higher Education Summit was held in Dhaka earlier this month with a view to expanding innovative approaches to teaching, research, technology transfer and business development in higher education. Attended by senior educationists from across the world, the four-day summit proposed a range of ideas for the development of key sectors and how higher education could play a role in this.

The summit was organised by USAID in association with the University of Dhaka and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. The first of its kind in Asia, the summit called for stronger partnerships among public and private institutions across the globe to face the emerging challenges.

Around 150 university presidents and vice-chancellors, senior executives of businesses and foundations and government officials participated in the summit. Titled Higher education’s response to global challenge, speakers at the inaugural session listed terrorism, food shortages, energy deficiency and poverty as the major challenges facing the world – and that higher education and innovative thinking could help tackle them.

Education adviser Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman, speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural function, said, “Degradation of ecology, population, rapid urbanisation and poverty are the major issues in the case of Bangladesh.

“It is of immense importance that the universities of Bangladesh get linked with those of other countries for more collaboration in researches and innovations… with public and private universities taking the opportunities of partnerships to achieve excellence.”

Rahman said it was not only partnership in terms of resources but for sharing experiences and mobilising alumni of the educational institutions which empowered institutions. So far such initiatives had not been significant.

A key focus should be the ethical issue – that is, to uplift the underprivileged, he said, adding, “This is a bigger social support.”

At the opening ceremony, US Ambassador James F Moriarty said higher education institutions made vital contributions to national and international development. In many ways, the American higher education community represented the US traditions of enterprise, pluralism, diversity, compassion and humanitarianism, Moriarty said.

In recent years, traditional relationships between American and European higher education institutions had expanded to include Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. This expansion included the formation of stronger and more prevalent linkages with multinational corporations, non-government organisations and foundations.

“I firmly believe that these trends will contribute significantly to reducing global poverty in the coming years,” Moriarty said.

USAID Bureau of Asia Acting Assistant Administrator Mark Ward in his keynote address said American aid from the private sector to the developing world was now much more than that of government aid. This called for partnerships in terms of higher education and ways needed to be found how national and multinational corporations could be partnered for the development of higher education systems and research.

Thomas Farrell, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Education and Cultural Affairs, said America was keen to extend higher education programmes to Asian countries, including Bangladesh, to help them face global challenges such as food security, disaster management and poverty reduction.

“The number of visas issued to Bangladeshi students has increased recently,” Farrell said. “We welcome them… we want to see more students.”

The US may award five more Fulbright scholarships a year to Bangladeshi students in the areas of food security and disaster management, he added. At present, America allocates up to 20 scholarships to Bangladeshi students and sends 14 to 16 academics for teaching or research to Bangladesh.

The summit focused on four areas: food security, women’s entrepreneurship, teacher training and natural disaster management.

“Higher education has no alternatives. The US, therefore, internationally develops programmes and facilitates individuals and institutions for better education and research,” Farrell said while talking to reporters on the sidelines of the summit.

Dhaka University Vice-chancellor Professor SMA Faiz, who moderated a session on building innovative higher education partnerships, said the summit had discussed ways Asian universities and the US could strengthen partnerships. These could be with the private sectors, including national and multinational corporations, Faiz said, adding that representatives of Microsoft, Intel and the Aga Khan Foundation had already extended their support to tertiary education.

“The academics of various countries are sharing their experiences. This is a great scope for partnership,” he said.

A participant suggested preparing a directory of the universities in Asia and the US to facilitate sharing of the best practices that contribute to excellence in education.

The summit ended on a successful note with proposals for linking higher education more with the growing challenges in today’s world. The successful implementation of these plans is expected to pave the way for a better and more peaceful future.