Drought of student in private universities

The true growth of a country’s economy depends on the development of a nation and its citizens as human resources and higher education plays an inevitable role in such context. Bangladesh is also not an exception to this.

Currently there are 50 public universities in Bangladesh with 13,34,934 seats under 1,199 departments in 261 faculties or schools. But this is not enough, to meet the increasing demand for higher education and develop skilled, efficient and competent manpower the Private Universities in Bangladesh have been playing an important role for quite some time now.

The number of private universities in Bangladesh have increased very dramatically over the last few years. Until 2020 there were 107 approved private universities in Bangladesh. Therefore, now what matters in this connection is not the number but the quality.

A good university must ensure quality education for its students. But to be an international standard institution of higher education it is not an easy job for a university. And seems like most of the universities are failing to maintain that standard. As a results the number of students getting admitted to a private university is decreasing.

According to the latest UGS report released in October 2021, the total number of students in private universities in 2020 dropped to 3,28,689 from 3,49,160 in 2019. In 2018, the number of students in private universities was 3,61,792.

Around 57 per cent of seats in the country’s private universities remained vacant in 2019 and 64 per cent in 2020. With more than 90% vacancy rate, most of the universities are struggling to get new students.

There are three main reasons for why students are getting less and less attracted to Private University. They are affordability, Covid pandemic, and the quality of education.

Affordability

Getting admitted to a private university is expansive. Students always prefer public universities to private universities also for low costs. And the cost of higher education in a private university have increased a lot in the last couple of years. A four years’ program in a private university can cost up to 10 lakh taka. Which is out of reach even for a student belonging to a middle class family.

Professor Biswajit Chanda, the UGC private university division member, told that students even prefer reputed colleges like Dhaka College, Government Brojomohun College in Barishal and Carmichael College in Rangpur under the National University to private universities due to quality and affordability.

Perween Sultana, the vice-chancellor of Central Women’s University, in Old Dhaka’s Hatkhola area, said they were even allowing the students now to pay in instalments. She said that this is the only private university in Old Dhaka for female students and they also keep very low fees. Yet they don’t get enough students, as they are mostly from low-income groups. ‘Our students even give tuition fees in instalments but due to socio-economic reasons many of them drop out in the middle of their course period,’ she said.

As the quality is not improving and the cost is getting out of reach, the students are becoming more and more avert from private universities.

Covid Pandemic:

The Covid pandemic has also a big role in this regard. Usually what happens is most of the students sit for public university exam as they are affordable and have good quality of education.  Those who don’t get chance into a public university gets himself admitted to a private university. But after the Covid outbreak and the lockdown all the educational institutions were closed and the HSC examination of 2020 was postponed and on 30 January 2021 all the candidates were given auto pass without taking the exam. So, there were actually no new candidates for University admission in 2020.

Also, when the lockdown kept extending and the education institutions remained physically closed, private universities started to conduct all their academic activities online. But the problem was many students who lived in the rural area and belongs to a low income family did not have stable internet connection and proper device to do online class. As a result, many of them dropped out and new students were discouraged to get admitted.

several vice-chancellors of private universities claimed that the Covid-19 pandemic, socio-economic reasons and geographical locations were the main barriers for them to attract students.

Perween Sultana, the vice-chancellor of Central Women’s University said, Covid pandemic was another reason for the number of students to decrease.

‘When we conduct online classes, our students from low-income families cannot attend very often. They get less chance to use smart devices compared to their male family members,’ she said.

Md. Shahid Ullah Talukder, the vice-chancellor of Sylhet International University, which was established in 2001, told that the financial strain caused by the Covid-19 pandemic reduced their number of students.

Professor AHM Aktarul Islam, the vice-chancellor of Times University Bangladesh, in Faridpur, which was established in 2013, also blamed pandemic for the decreasing number of students in private universities.

Quality:

Private universities provide opportunity to receive international level education without going abroad on market demand meeting subjects. Violation free campus, faculty members’ quality, proper maintenance of academic calendar, teachers’ cooperation, updated curriculum, regular class, campus location and different modern facilities are connected with students’ satisfaction and attract them towards private universities. But, a large number of private universities have failed to meet the fundamental requirements of infrastructure facilities, fulltime qualified teachers, research facility, teaching friendly environment, rich library, sufficient administrative support and other related facilities to ensure quality education. Business motive, financial mismanagement, poor governance, improper policy seriously affected the quality of private universities in Bangladesh.

Professor Biswajit Chanda, the UGC private university division member, told that the private universities were struggling to attract students, mostly due to lack of quality.

As for private education, students prefer medical colleges and then a few selective private universities, which are known for their quality education, he said.

He also added that, ‘if the quality cannot be ensured it is obvious the seats in private universities will remain vacant.’

He added that the number of private universities should be controlled as there are too many private universities already.