‘Private universities will bring positive changes in the state of tertiary education’ – Professor Imran Rahman, Vice Chancellor at University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh
By Wafiur Rahman
Photo Credit – Titu Zakaria
When it comes to quality education given by tertiary business schools, very few private universities have been able to do that since North South University was the first ever approved private university in 1992. That number does connote x number of elite business schools, but given the high tuition costs that parents pay to most of the private universities (however ‘affordable’ and ‘reasonable’ it may be advertised), it should be a basic right of the students.
When asked about what is basically taught in both the graduate and undergraduate curriculum of Business Administration (MBA and BBA respectively), Prof. Imran Rahman, Vice Chancellor at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB), replied that courses which are considered to be useful in enhancing the business knowledge and acumen, are usually taught in tertiary levels. ‘Courses related to business, management, etc are all taught,’ he mentioned, ‘when Dhaka University’s Institute of Business Administration first commenced its journey, their curriculum was based on that of Indiana University from America. Faculties from the North American university came here and tailor-made a curriculum that would suit the needs of the Bangladeshi business school community back in the 1960s.’
‘Usually Bachelors in Business Administration starts off with basics required to comprehend quantitative analysis, business communications, etc. Once they progress in their journey, the students are introduced to core business concepts such as marketing, finance, etc. Further sub-specialised areas such as Human Resources also open up as they move further ahead. The objective of the business schools is to make sure that the students can learn the basic abilities so that, for example, when they will be handed a business case, they can study and analyse the merits and challenges of that particular case.’
An IBA alumnus himself, Prof. Rahman also recollected that it was ‘in 1967 when IBA first introduced the concept of internship in its postgraduate programme. At the end of a term, the student is assigned to a company as an intern, where they are given various tasks such as preparing reports, conducting research, etc. With the advantage of getting work exposure, it helped interns in getting jobs. In USA, before entering for a MBA programme, they demand that the applicants have at least 2-3 years of professional work experience, something Bangladeshi business schools introduced much later.’
‘Here at ULAB we provide the opportunity for students to take courses outside their designated subjects, thanks to the liberal arts philosophy that we instill in our institution. In public universities, a business student will never be taught courses outside their curriculum, but here they can.’
When asked about whether business schools are on the right track of delivery quality education to students, Prof. Rahman said that a lot more can be done. ‘The cut-paste curriculum that most universities have adopted need to be phased out and the respective management needs to find out what actually should be taught. Sadly, this is also why there is no actual integration between the business curriculum and employers. Compared to other majors, BBA/MBA students have a lot more scope to learn more, given the substantial amount of projects and group tasks they have to undertake, they are also subjected to various field-based outdoor researches, where they have to contact relevant companies or organisations to obtain data/information. This helps them to overcome any sort of communicative shyness that they may have had previously. Meeting deadlines is also another aspect that is taught through assignments or presentations.
‘Half of the courses taught are ideally skill-based training, but then again it can only be attained if there is a love for learning the trade, not merely for getting a job. In Bangladesh this is a big problem. Classroom lectures are not everything, and that is where we are lagging behind. The severe shortage of skills in business graduates is one of the major reasons why there is a high unemployment rate among business majors. But we must remain optimistic, if we can address these problems, then we can pick up the pace.’
Quality control is also something authorities should ponder, Prof. Rahman suggests. ‘If we look at the admission test in IBA, they usually take 100 out of 8000 applicants – that explains the cream of the crops joining an already-elite institution. It does not matter how faculties are teaching, because they know that the students can comprehend easily and harness their potential themselves. But that is not the case in other business schools. This is why teachers should teach for the love of teaching – so that they can be responsible for developing future leaders, rather than just mere business graduates.’
‘Our universities should have more accreditations and set more benchmarks to make themselves more credible in society’s eyes. But lack of good faculties, lack of research grants/funds and questionable quality of education in schools and colleges are hindrances to our development. Students and parents should not expect that universities will teach language skills, quantitative analysis and self-learning motivation, these should start from a very early point of their education.’ Southeast Asian countries such as Japan, Korea and China are making serious investments so that they can build up on an effective and quality workforce in the near future. ‘We do not get investments like those here,’ he lamented.
He added that ULAB is currently undertaking a research survey on what employers actually want from graduates when recruiting. ‘As far as we know, we develop the students to the extent that they can communicate effectively, meet deadlines, knowing how to adjust, etc. Lack of effective English skills also puts us far behind. Native English speakers can express their thoughts freely, whereas our students cannot. English proficiency is taken as a benchmark for high communication skills by employers, had the students been taught both English and Bangla properly in primary level education, then this should not have been the case.’
The mushrooming of business graduates are not going hand in hand with employment generation. This is due to lack of job creation in the market. ‘This is not good for society,’ he surmises, ‘70% of the undergraduate students study BBA. It is also a global problem, as there is a pre-conceived notion that business graduates will get preference than students with other majors, and the business graduates are guaranteed jobs. This is a contemporary problem though. Had this occurred 100-200 years back, we would not have been blessed with Tagore or other distinguished individuals. We need more entrepreneurs, as job creation does not seem to rise anytime soon. Students should not just wait for opportunities, but rather grab when they find one.’
As far as the future is concerned, Prof. Rahman is optimistic. ‘Many university’s authorities share similar sentiments as ULAB does. If we become competitive in terms of quality of our education we provide, then we can reap the rewards accordingly. I believe that private universities will bring positive changes in the state of tertiary education. Taking cue from us, others can emulate cultivating our research culture. Even the public universities can learn from us, as their lack of accountability often shows them to be complacent in the eyes of everyone. I wish I could progress faster, in terms of development.’