BNP asks why DU not among top 1,000 universities

BNP senior leader Abdul Moyeen Khan. Prothom Alo File Photo
BNP senior leader Abdul Moyeen Khan. Prothom Alo File Photo

BNP on Sunday bemoaned that no university of Bangladesh, including Dhaka University (DU), could grab any position in the Asia University Rankings-2019 by Times Higher Education due to their outdated curricula and lack of quality teachers, reports UNB.

"This is unfortunate that no Bangladeshi university, including the Dhaka University, could make their way into the list of 417 top universities of Asia. Even, the Dhaka University, known as the Oxford of the East, is not there in the global ranking of 1,000 universities," said BNP senior leader Abdul Moyeen Khan.

He came up with the remarks at a press conference at BNP's Naya Paltan central office.

The London-based Times Higher Education (THE) recently published the names of top 417 Asian universities.

Moyeen Khan said the DU has failed to have any place on the list due to its very poor performance in key indicators like teaching, knowledge transfer, research and international outlook.

He said the courses and curricula of many departments at the university have not been updated in line with the renowned global universities as the textbooks of unknown publishers of India and or underdeveloped countries are picked in many cases in its classrooms.

Mentioning that hiring quality teachers is necessary for ensuring the standard of education, the BNP leader said political influence has unfortunately taken a serious turn in appointing teachers to the DU.

He alleged that activists of the ruling party's student body are recruited as teachers without assessing their merits just to maintain their influence on teachers' politics.

He said the teaching method of a university should be different from that of a college.

"But one-sided lecture-based education method--the way children are taught from textbooks in schools-- is followed at the Dhaka University."

He said modern education method what prominent universities follow could not be introduced at the Dhaka University due to poor leadership in the country's education system.

The BNP leader also said inadequate research, caused by lack of funds, has also taken its toll on the university.

He, however, questioned whether it is possible to conduct quality research by the teachers appointed on political consideration.

Moyeen Khan also mentioned that the DU’s education and research-exchange programmes are also outdated ones.

He said the university should develop relations with well-known universities of the developed world for exchange of education by improving its own quality.

The BNP leader also lamented that hardly any foreign student now comes to Bangladesh for studying at the DU as its global image has got tarnished.