Accreditation Council For Private Universities
Draft rules approved in principle
Pvt universities assoc suggests such council both for public, private universities
The government yesterday approved in principle draft rules of Accreditation Council for Private Universities of Bangladesh (ACPUB) to ensure quality and standard of education of private universities.
The education ministry approved the draft rules at its meeting chaired by Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid.
Section 38 of The Private University Act, 2010 stipulates formation of national and independent accreditation council to ensure quality and standard of higher education. After the law came into effect, the education ministry asked the University Grants Commission (UGC) to formulate rules and outlines of the council and sent it to the ministry.
According to the draft rules, the ACPUB would motivate private universities to undertake self-assessment and critical review of their academic programmes.
The council would urge the private universities to seek evaluation of their academic programmes through peer review teams to be formed by ACPUB. The result of the peer review team will be made public so that students, guardians, and employers can know about the status of different universities, said the draft rules.
The ACPUB would consist of a general council, an executive committee, several programme committees for each broad discipline or area of the study, and the peer review teams.
The general council would consist of 21 members, including a chairperson. The chairperson, having a high academic and administrative calibre, would be nominated by the chancellor for a period of two years, it said.
The executive committee would consist of a chairperson and eight members of the general council. The executive committee would be responsible for appointing peer review teams.
The draft said that each approved private university will have to get membership of ACPUB within three months from the rules coming into force by filling in the application form and paying fees for membership as determined by the council.
It also said the new private universities will have to get the council's membership within six months of receiving permission from the government.
Each university must submit a filled-in self-assessment questionnaire prescribed by ACPUB within six months of becoming members of the council, it said.
The peer review teams would visit institutions, verify and review information provided in the questionnaire to make recommendations to the executive committee.
If any university appears to fail to comply with the condition of the council it may be graded as "unsatisfactory" and will be allowed a specific timeframe to make up deficiencies identified by the peer review team.
About funding of the council, the draft rules said the government would allocate an initial endowment fund of Tk 50 crore for the accreditation council.
The education ministry received opinions on the draft rules from different ministries and organisations after sending it to 19 ministries, individuals and organisations, including Association of Private Universities of Bangladesh (APUB).
Prof M Alimullah Miyan, general secretary of APUB, in his opinion said there should be an Accreditation Council for both public and private universities.
The information, communication and technology ministry in its opinion said an amendment can be brought to the rules so that standard of both private and public universities can be measured. They suggested that the name of the council should be "Accreditation Council for Universities of Bangladesh."
“The accreditation council is only for the private universities. Establishing an accreditation council for private universities was mentioned in the National Education Policy 2010,” Education Secretary Dr Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury told The Daily Star.
He said the ministry would finalise the draft rules after consultation with the stakeholders concerned including the representatives of private universities and educationists as soon as possible.
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