Certification Of Universities: Govt to constitute 13-member council
The cabinet yesterday approved the draft of the Accreditation Council Act-2016 that seeks to form a council to grant accreditation to public and private universities in order to improve quality of higher education.
“This is a long-expected law for improving the quality of higher education, particularly at the university level,” Cabinet Secretary M Shafiul Alam told reporters after the weekly cabinet meeting at the Secretariat.
As per the proposed law, a 13-member accreditation council comprising a chairman and four full-time and eight part-time members would be formed. It would have the jurisdiction to grant, suspend and cancel accreditation certificates, said the secretary.
The cabinet, in principle, had endorsed the draft of the law in March. Earlier in April 2012, the education ministry prepared the primary draft of the law. It sought opinion from different ministries, universities and departments concerned. The draft was uploaded on the education ministry's website to seek public opinion.
According to education ministry officials, the council would evaluate the curriculum, academic activities, library facilities and publications of university teachers before rating a particular university for accreditation. There are now 38 public and 96 private universities in the country.
Shafiul said granting accreditation to higher educational institutions and formation of separate accreditation committees at every discipline of universities would also be under the council's jurisdiction.
Besides, it would set the conditions for granting accreditation. It would work to earn international recognition of accreditation through inter-state discussions and mutual talks with international organisations, he added.
The council would organise seminar, symposium, training and campaign programmes on accreditation and inspire all concerned to this end, said the cabinet secretary.
About the qualification of the council chairman, he said the candidate must have 25 years' teaching experience at public universities, including a minimum of 10 years as a professor.
The cabinet gave the go-ahead to Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA) Research Law-2016 that aims to make the organisation more dynamic and time-befitting.
Shafiul said under the proposed law, there would be an advisory council, headed by the agriculture minister, and a board of directors at the BINA. The council would guide the board by giving it advice and policy support occasionally.
The cabinet also approved The International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) Act-2016 and a proposal to ratify the treaty between the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar on the demarcation of the land section of the boundary north of the Naaf river.
The draft of the proposed bilateral framework agreement on the productivity assistance development between Bangladesh and China was endorsed by the cabinet. The deal is likely to be signed during the upcoming visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Bangladesh.
The agreement would help increase the capacity and productivity of the country's industrial sector, said the cabinet secretary.
“We will be able to learn from China through transfer of technology,” he added.
The third quarterly (July-September) report of 2016 on the implementation of decisions taken by the cabinet was placed at yesterday's meeting. According to the report, 64.29 percent of cabinet's decisions have been implemented during this period, up from 57.69 percent during the same period in last year.
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