Syed Saad Andaleeb

Many are the number of universities in Bangladesh, both public and private. Large numbers of students graduate every year from these institutions. But how many of them really experience the joy of learning? This question must be answered by the country’s academic institutions.

How should we see our students: as customers or products? In my four-plus decades in academia, I have seen them quite differently: as co-creators of knowledge.

A local newspaper published a report recently on University of Dhaka’s (DU) Tk 869.56 crore budget for the current fiscal year, the largest ever, to support the work of the iconic institution poised to celebrate its 100th year since its establishment in 1921.

The brutal killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where a policeman placed a knee on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, has been viewed globally in horror as his life flowed out in pain and agony.

As the deadly Covid-19 virus continues to climb the grisly charts, an intense race is already on, globally, to discover the next vaccine, the next panacea.

“Human resources—not capital, nor income, nor material resources—constitute the ultimate basis for wealth of nations.

Back in 2017, we had an opportunity to build a small and experimental toilet in Jhalokati, with the simple intention of helping adolescent girls in a rural school who had no real toilet to avail.

Recently an M Phil student, studying service management of hospital patients, emailed: “Sir, I am doing descriptive type of cross-sectional study and I am not testing any hypothesis.

Academic programmes across the world are becoming increasingly innovative, competitive and challenging. They are responding to changing times. There is also the realisation that, built in the right spirit, universities can generate enormous social capital and rich economic dividends.

Ask faculty members in the country’s universities what would motivate them to devote more time to research and you will hear one common answer: decrease present course loads and class sizes. Both factors continue to weigh heavily on their daily toil and pursuit of excellence.

“It is most difficult to get people on the path to research and publication. That culture, that appetite, that scholarly commitment has eroded considerably. [They] LOVE the microphone, they HATE the pen.”

Discussions about research in Bangladesh's higher education institutions (HEIs) have become animated and contentious in recent times.

The Daily Star's February 3rd issue carries a story on page 5 about the acute teacher shortage at Khulna Medical College.

The nation is now in the grips of another approaching election. A flickering hope among many is for an inspirational leadership that energises, enthuses, and leads competently, and with good intentions to touch the lives of the people of Bangladesh.

Once again, a headline in The Daily Star grated: “Fifth-grader 'raped' by headmaster.” Another headline literally stung: “RMG worker gang-raped in moving bus.” Violence against women continues inexorably and with inexplicable regularity, reflecting the unconscionable disregard and disrespect that is held today for the helpless victims. Where does such abjectness come from? Is there something in the male ethos,

Violence against and violation of women result from “some of the worst forms of discrimination” that continue unabated in a variety of ways: mistreatment, harassment, lewd stares, groping, maiming, raping, and even murdering. With choices that matter to women in their hands, men seem to have been endowed with an arcane sense of entitlement to do as they wish with the lives of women.

Winter is a great time for the replenishment of academia in Bangladesh when many Non-Resident Bangladeshi (NRB) academics alight on our shores for both personal and professional reasons.

Here is an example of an organisation that benefitted substantially from research: Courtyard by Marriott found out that business travellers needed hassle-free service, relevant information, and time to relax during their travels. They made their check-in and check-out procedures efficient; seeded their website with maps, restaurant types and locations, and promotional materials; and introduced quiet lounges which didn't have music or TV noise to cause distraction. I don't need to elaborate on Marriott's customer satisfaction ratings or their bottom line!

With every new discovery, we enter a new realm of knowledge that quickly reveals our inadequacies and how much more we need to know.

Of the 30 million youth between the ages of 18 and 25 in Bangladesh, roughly three million go on to pursue higher education.