Uniform entry exam for universities is now a national demand: UGC chairman

Bangladesh University Grants Commission (UGC) chairman Kazi Shahidullah
Bangladesh University Grants Commission (UGC) chairman Kazi Shahidullah
Bangladesh University Grants Commission (UGC) chairman Kazi Shahidullah was earlier the vice chancellor of the National University. In a recent interview with Prothom Alo, he discussed the issue of a uniform admission test for public universities, allegations of irregularities at the various universities and problems at the private universities too.

Prothom Alo: Before joining the University Grants Commission (UGC), were you prepared for the problems you face now?

Kazi Shahidullah: I face more problems than I thought I would. When I was the vice chancellor of the National University, the problems were about various colleges. I had to solve problems regarding starting up honours courses, deciding on who will be the president of the managing committee and so on. But the work pressure at UGC is much more intense and so are challenges. UGC has to monitor private universities too.

Prothom Alo: What sort of irregularities and mismanagement did you find after taking over UGC?

Kazi Shahidullah: The problems that prevail in the society, also prevail in the universities. On the one hand these are challenging, on the other there are opportunities to resolve these. Now it is an opportunity to implement the solutions to the problems I talked about.

Prothom Alo: UGC is in charge of monitoring higher education, but UGC has it been empowered to do so? How do you work?

Kazi Shahidullah: Any work, to a great extent, depends on personal initiative. It is true that UGC has its limitations. As a result it cannot take quick solutions. We send recommendations to the ministry and the ministry takes steps accordingly. However, the education ministry does cooperate. The ministry took instant action as soon as the investigation report against Gopalganj Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science and Technology University VC was submitted. There is a workforce crisis at UGC.

Prothom Alo: UGC often faces resistance while investigating some universities. The UGC investigation team had to return while carrying out investigations against a former VC of Noakhali Science and Technology University.

Kazi Shahidullah: That was before I joined. No such incident occurred during my tenure. But we are getting many allegations about different universities. A dedicated section with enough manpower is required to probe these allegations. It’s true that we don’t have adequately experienced officials in UGC who can dig deep into such allegations. We normally send teachers for this task as persons from other professions wouldn’t be suitable.

Prothom Alo: A section of teachers in Rangpur’s Begum Rokeya University held a press conference against VC recently. Some news media reported that the VC spends most of the time away the campus. Can’t UGC do anything about it?

Kazi Shahidullah: The matter is under investigation. I can’t talk about it without being a hundred per cent confirmed as it is still under investigation.

Prothom Alo: UGC recently said that some universities are the flouting rules. What are you doing about this?

Kazi Shahidullah: Failure to take proper measures has been UGC's shortcoming. We could take action if we had that power. We create pressure, so does the news media. We hope to get some positive outcome by creating pressure. The evening course issue is an example. It is not that we issued letters to the universities about shutting down evening courses following the president’s speech in this regard. We had been taking steps even before the President’s directives to close all evening courses in public universities. We had mentioned other irregularities too. This has placed a moral obligation on the universities.

Prothom Alo: What does UGC want to do about evening courses?

Kazi Shahidullah: The universities must do something about this. I was dean of Dhaka University’s arts faculty when evening courses were introduced. Things were different at that time. Some departments of business studies opened evening courses. But it has become so pervasive that departments such as Bangla or Islamic Studies run evening courses too. Universities are not for evening education. Even the newest departments want to introduce evening courses.

Prothom Alo: Opening any course or programme requires UGC approval. Did the authorities take approval for evening courses?

Kazi Shahidullah: This question would not have arisen had they taken permission. They do not even recruit teachers for that.

Prothom Alo: Some universities are also opening regular departments without UGC approval, such as the history department at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science and Technology University. The students suffer. What can you do about this?

Kazi Shahidullah: Our message is clear. Anything without UGC’s approval is illegal. The problem was created by the former VC of the Bangabandhu University. I suggested that the students who are already enrolled should get a chance to pass. But the department should be closed after that as they did not even take approval. If we don’t take steps, this will set precedence for other universities to follow suit.

Prothom Alo: The uniform admission test is the most discussed issue right now in public universities. What is the logic behind the decision?

Kazi Shahidullah: This is nothing new. To ease the pressure of admission seekers and their guardians, the issue of uniform admission test has been discussed over the last seven or eight years. As the system stands today, a student seeking admission has to take an examination in Chattogram today then rush to Khulna or Rajshahi the next day for an admission exam there. This is not realistic. We can’t forcefully hold on to this system. We must update ourselves and move forward.

Prothom Alo: But some universities don’t want to accept the idea of such a combined admission test. What would you do in this regard?

Kazi Shahidullah: Those who are hesitant about the matter need to take the decision within this month. We will start the work from the first week of March. We would proceed with the universities who agree to our decision. We can’t let the people suffer for 20 years just because some universities don’t accept the plan. Uniform admission test has become a national demand now. It’s noteworthy that no one raised any objection to this. Rather, were very positive about this at the meeting of vice chancellors. They said they only have some procedural issues to deal with.

Prothom Alo: Who would conduct the examination?

Kazi Shahidullah: These matters will be fixed in the first week of March. But it’s certain that teachers would conduct the entry test. Bangladesh Agricultural University conducted last year’s combined admission test for 7 agricultural universities.

Prothom Alo: There are questions regarding the quality of education in private universities of the country. With a few exceptions, most of the private universities are of low standard. What can UGC do about it?

Kazi Shahidullah: There are endeavour to ensure quality of education and pressure is being applied too. I personally talked with some of the the universities. UGC recently set a ceiling for the honorarium paid to attend meetings of private universities as I’ve heard that some even take as much as Tk 50,000 to attend a meeting.

Prothom Alo: Three important posts such as vice chancellor, pro-vice chancellor and treasurer often remain vacant in private universities. This is a serious problem. These posts are still vacant in some universities. What does UGC do about this?

Kazi Shahidullah: Those universities have other problems too. In some cases, there is a parallel administration of the trustee board and VC. Private university VCs can’t operate like those in public universities. They have to follow the directives of the trustee board. We are trying to solve these problems.

Prothom Alo: UGC is investigating different allegations against some public university VCs. But, the way VCs are recruited is also questionable. Is there any proposal to ensure transparency in the recruitment of vice chancellors?

Kazi Shahidullah: In some universities, the senate recruits the VC from a selected panel. But some don’t have this system. We are planning to create a better system for them. We have taken the initiative and will start work in this regard. We will specify some prerequisites for being a VC, pro-VC or treasurer. The authorities will then examine whether the persons who may have been recommended by the ministry, meet those prerequisites. There will be no need for any search committee if we can implement that system.

Prothom Alo: The quality of education in some public universities is also questionable. The underlying reason of some universities’ resistance to the combined admission test is that they have a question about the quality of education in some other universities.

Kazi Shahidullah: Quality of education is the main problem of our education system. We should ensure quality teachers. Teachers need to be dedicated. The prevailing moral degradation in the society is also reflected in the education sector. Lack of quality is the challenge we are facing today. We have enough quantity. All we need to ensure is quality in education.

Prothom Alo: Thank you.

Kazi Shahidullah: Thank you too.

*This interview, published in Prothom Alo print edition, has been rewritten in English by Rabiul Islam and Galib Ashraf.