To fix university education, we need to fix the system first

In 1921, Dhaka University (DU) began its journey with three faculties: Arts, Science and Law; 12 departments.

Since then, as of today, there are about 55 public universities, 110 private universities and 3 International Universities in Bangladesh as per the University Grant Commission (UGC) Bangladesh.

To my knowledge, there are 13 faculties, 83 departments, 13 institutes, 57 Bureau and research centres, over 2000 teachers, about 50 thousand students and 19 residential halls and four hostels. Over two-thirds of the present faculty members possess degrees from universities in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. Many of them achieved international accolades for their scholarly activities including the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2006 by our current Chief Advisor Prof Dr Muhammad Yunus.

During my time as a student in Curzon Hall, our teachers at that time reminded us that DU was called "Oxford of the East" because of its quality education and reputation. Although, I have never found the authenticity of that accolade; however, I accept it because it resonates well in the ears.

No one will deny that the quality of education and world rating for DU has gradually fallen since our independence and now has reached to its bottom. This is also true for almost all other public universities in Bangladesh.

Prof Dr Muhammad Yunus, in his first televised address to the nation directly mentioned the need for reforming higher education which is a very hopeful matter. There are too many issues that need to be fixed, however, acceptance of any change faces obstacles and requires bold leadership and attention to detail with the understanding of the sentiments of all stakeholders.

First and foremost, this is a mammoth task and should be taken seriously. Now we live in a global village, so it is not difficult to find the root cause of the problem and fix it to ensure quality education, research and innovation.

As a former student of DU, faculty of a National University and faculty of a lead western university, I like to share my thoughts and what I have witnessed and experienced over 48 years from my student life to my professional life from both worlds. If we talk about issues, they are too many.

So, I like to highlight only a few key issues e.g., faculty recruitment, their promotion, electing academic administrative positions etc. to draw your attention. I will try to compare systems in both worlds and this might give a snapshot to understand the bottleneck of creating a high-quality, tertiary academic institution in Bangladesh and could be used as primers for reforms.

Faculty recruitment is crucial for any university's success, but in my experience, public universities in Bangladesh suffer from nepotism, favouritism, cronyism, and political influence in the hiring process.

In the initial times, a master's degree was the minimum requirement to become a teacher of DU, and the most qualified candidate typically secured the position. However, today this is far from reality. In public universities, it's now common for teachers to be hired without even meeting the basic qualifications.

Despite UGC guidelines, there is no uniform hiring process, and many recruited teachers lack the minimum qualifications. Historically, departments often hire their own graduates, leading to subservience to senior professors and a lack of diversity.

In contrast, universities in the West require PhDs, postdoctoral experience, and a track record of securing research funding. New faculty members are trained in teaching and continue to receive professional development throughout their careers. Some reputed private universities in Bangladesh have already begun hiring PhD holders.

To improve the recruitment process, a strong search committee led by a neutral Dean, following international standards, could help ensure that the best candidates are hired. This would create a better learning environment and raise the quality of education.

Faculty promotion is another issue. In the early days, there was a limited number of professors in each department and many faculty did not achieve full professorship prior to retirement. This is no way desirable. So, a group of talented faculties made a significant change in the mid 80's and made a proposal to the university that allowed any lecturer to carry his/her position up to a full professor if he/she qualifies and is approved.

A lecturer can become an assistant professor in 4 years, an associate professor in 9 years, and a full professor in 12 years, provided they hold a PhD and have 15 research publications. This system, still in place today, was initially well-designed, with standards comparable to global norms. On the surface, it seems like a win-win situation. So, where's the problem?

The problem is abusing that formula in many ways. When time to reach for the next promotion, all other parameters such as publications, research, teaching quality etc. get skewed, and skewing the system becomes a norm. I have never heard someone's promotion get withheld unless that person made a personal or political blunder.

Nowadays, some faculty become full professors within 12 years submitting daily news articles or weekly magazine articles as research papers. Adding name as a co-author in friends research articles is quite common and even publish research articles in for profit scam journals. This practice hurts the group of teachers who work hard and publish in good journals in spite of poor research facilities and funds in our country.

So, most often low to mediocre teachers who made their entry through the wrong door often use lobby or political muscle power to be a full professor in the shortest possible time.

Another significant issue is rotating chairmanship in the department. In this process, the day a lecturer joins the department knows when he/she will hold that chair without any effort. Moreover, there are many faculties who don't like administrative positions, some want to concentrate on their research, or some may prefer to devote more time to developing news teaching modules or writing textbooks for students.

We don't see rotating headships in western universities. In the West, chairs are selected through a rigorous selection process by a strong search committee. Job postings are advertised widely. Sometimes external candidates won the competition.

The election of university administrators, such as Deans, Provosts, Pro-VCs, and VCs, through faculty voting is another major issue. This current system leads to faculty members spending more time engaging in politics than focusing on students and research. It also creates sharp divisions among academic colleagues, undermining collaboration and academic progress.

In the West, hiring a Dean, Pro-VC and VC takes 6 months to a year through a rigorous process. On the contrary, I saw recent news of appointing a new VC and two Pro-VC of DU within a couple of weeks after the resignation of the former ones. This rush appointment no doubt will generate gossip stories in which no side will win.

In my view, an interim appointment could have been an opportunity for the university to have a fair and rigorous selection process for hiring those senior executive positions.

It is now widely known that many faculty members, though not all, have been spending time teaching at private universities for extra income, a practice allowed by the university administration for the past couple of decades. Such practice is unheard of in Western universities, where faculty occasionally teach at other institutions as invited speakers, but without any financial incentives.

On the same token, I have never heard that in Bangladesh, there was a yearly salary adjustment for faculty's living expenses. On the other hand, that is quite routine in western countries. So, I think university authorities should fix this issue so that faculties are reasonably paid so that they do not have to do multiple jobs. This will give students more access to their professors and second abolish the class system among faculties.

There are talks about abolishing student politics in universities. What I have seen and learned from history, university students and especially students from DU always took the lead in saving the country from many crises and stood for the right reasons starting from 52's language movement, 71's independence and past authoritarian governments to name a few of key successes.

So, banning student politics would not be a good idea in my mind; however, reform may be needed so students will never be pawns of any beneficiary groups.

I have no intention of recommending the western university model for our country. I have just mentioned a few issues and my views through a comparative lens. All of our current advisors except a few are highly educated and obtained their higher education in reputed universities abroad and everyone excelled in their own field.

A highly educated workforce is essential to compete and sustain in all facets of life. It seems the current structure and system in public universities are failing to achieve what our country needs.

I recommend that the current interim government recruit a small group of highly skilled academics and administrators to assess Dhaka University and compare it with a few top universities abroad. This group should examine key areas like budgeting, hiring and retaining faculty, promotions, and appointing leadership positions such as VC, Pro-VC, Deans, and Chairs. They should also look at the roles and responsibilities of these positions. After their visits, they can provide a detailed report with recommendations and a comparison of policies between the local and foreign public universities.

The report could offer valuable insights for meaningful university reforms aimed at restoring Dhaka University's reputation as the 'Oxford of the East'. However, for these reforms to succeed, they must be supported by both the Government of Bangladesh and the DU academic community for the greater good.

Dr Muhammad Morshed is a Clinical Professor, the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, the University of British Columbia and Clinical Microbiologist and Chief, Zoonotic Diseases and Emerging Pathogens, BC Center for Disease Control, Vancouver.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard .