M. Shamsul Haque*
Higher education is one of the important sources of innovation in science and technology, creating leadership for nation building and a medium of human capital development among other things. The 16th Triennial Conference of IAUP (International Association of University Presidents) was held in NYC during June 17-20 at a hotel near The Times Square. Founded in June 1965 in Oxford in England by 120 VCs and Presidents from 21countries the IAUP now has over 300 members from 60 countries including BD. Three VCs (NUB, IUBAT and AIUB) from BD attended the conference and Mrs. Carmen Lamagna, VC of AIUB was elected as the Treasurer of the EC for 2011-2014. This year IAUP has been registered as a charity in England. The past President Mr. Barham Madain Ayub from Chile congratulated the members in his message for major achievements during previous three years. Notables were the Academic Impact project with United Nations to adopt the ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, literacy, sustainability and conflict resolution by member institutions. Another was to join the Qatar Foundation in organizing WISE (World Innovation Summit for Education) in leadership training for new presidents of universities. IAUP is also supporting 1000 chairs in universities in Africa, a continent that is beginning to realize its potential in 21st century, after so many centuries of exploitation of its rich mineral resources. Reducing brain drain from Africa is also an objective of the project. He also recognized the years 2008-2011 as trying times for this world. He also wrote “Higher education in almost every country felt the ripple effect from the economic crisis, which eventually made its way to the NGO. The universal belief that higher education is one of the fundamental keys to make this world better is more important than ever.” It may be mentioned that the recession in the developed nations did not affect BD much as it achieved GDP growth rate of above 5%. More importantly the number of students in private universities continued to grow at 20% reaching a total of over 200,000 by 2010. This pattern of increased enrollment in places of higher education in the NGO sector was observed all over the world. That reflects the recognition of the value of higher education by the people, especially those who can afford it.
The main theme of the Triennial Conference was building bridges to the future through higher education. Bridges as we know connect two sides of major rivers. The foundation of a bridge in each side is made strong in the grounds and approaches to the bridge is prepared so well that it remains firm on the soil and protect against river erosion. The focus on the future in relation to higher education is important and needs clarification. Universities work at the frontiers of knowledge and they have been creating over 90 percent of the new knowledge that have changed human lives in various ways. That way university is known for their roles as establishing bridges for the future conditions in the world. If we ask what kind of a society we want to see after 30-50 years could be answered by the kinds of research in which universities are engaged today. Major scientific developments have come out of the research laboratories of the famous universities and colleges. Dr. Yunus and his laboratory the Grameen Bank were awarded Nobel prize in 2006 and While he was a professor of Economics in Chittagong university. His works paved the way for reducing poverty through micro credit all over the world. In this connection the recently published research report on the poor quality of teaching and research in some large universities in BD is worth mentioning. That piece research has disclosed the state of higher education in BD before the public. However, insiders in universities and agencies connected with higher education, such as the UGC knew the position for a long time. After 10 years of talks and negotiations the WB offered a loan through a project named as HEQIP for research and faculty training etc. The UGC did not allow 51 out of 54 private universities to participate in the project for one reason or other on the grounds of non-compliance with some of its directives. Some of the public universities got some research projects and it was reported in a newspaper article by Prof. Kaikobad of BUET that most of the grantees did not have any publication worth citing by other researchers.
Research in universities is mostly done though doctoral programs under the supervision of qualified professors. Unfortunately whatever small capacity we have in universities in BD is not utilised by policy and financial support. After attending convocation for Ph.D. candidates at MIT in USA Professor Zafor Iqbal of SUST wrote a long article in the Prothom Alo on the issue. He mentioned two statistics in his paper. One, four hundred Ph.D. were awarded by MIT alone in June 2011. Another was a 1200 Ph.D. student were conducting studies in one university across the border from Sylhet in Assam. Knowing the expenditure per researcher of Rs.12, 000 a month he estimated that in BD a budget could be approved for Tk.100 crore this year to admit 1000 Ph.D. students in all the universities in BD. He wanted this amount to be given right from the next fiscal year 2012. Is this too much to expect from a national budget that wants to change lives of its population of 150 million? That kind of a project to support doctoral research is the only way we can create strong foundation for the nation that we want to see in the future. We talk of digital technology, green technology, biotechnology, food security, sustainable financial system, good governance and poverty free society and many more. We should create centers of excellence in each of these areas in universities and train researchers through doctoral candidates to improve teaching in universities and create bases for further research to solve the problems that the nation is faced with now and in the future. Development economists have long recognized that technological advances that create new opportunities for investment and employment create growth in demands. The State of Tennessee in USA has started a new university solely engaged to conduct doctoral research on energy this year and admitted 34 bright candidates from all over the country using the Oakridge research center there.
Prof. Zafor Iqbal raised a very pertinent and timely issue on the subject of Ph. D. research. The GoB should grant that money to build a bridge to the future of BD without any hesitation. We have to make a break through in this field. Otherwise we will continue to be a poor country whatever goals we are talking about now by 2021.
The issue of developing human capital has received attention in the development arena for a long time. University graduates are employed in transforming production systems to enhance productivity of the resources that are available in a nation and procured through imports. BD is also fortunate to be able to earn huge amounts of FX by exporting a large number of lowly skilled human resources in many countries of the world, especially in the oil rich Middle Eastern countries. It also has thriving export industries in textiles, leather, agriculture products, and jute and drugs mainly. These efforts need support through research on improving processes and products. Let higher education flourish in all aspects of quality by investing in Ph. D. research in universities without further delay and do not fall behind our closest neighbor Assam.
The writer is Vice Chancellor, Northern University Bangladesh .
