Govt approves 2 more private universities
The government has approved two more private universities. The new universities are Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah University in Khulna and Ahsania Mission University of Science and Technology in Rajshahi.
The education ministry's secondary and higher education division issued an order on Tuesday giving temporary approval to the universities.
Kazi Rafiqul Alam, president of Dhaka Ahsania Mission, is the patron of the universities.
With the two, the number of private universities in the country stands at 99. At present, Dhaka alone has 55 private universities.
The approval came at a time when the government is struggling to streamline some of the existing private universities, which are reportedly functioning without meeting some of the criteria laid down in the Private University Act 2010.
Besides, there were questions over the standard of education in some of these universities.
Over the last eight years since the passage of the act, the government has approved 50 private universities, many of them allegedly on political consideration.
“Prior to giving the approval, the authorities of the universities were asked to strictly maintain the provisions of the act,” said an official of the education ministry, preferring not to be named.
The official said around a dozen more private universities are waiting to get the government's approval.
Since the beginning of their journey in 1992, private universities have been playing a significant role in accommodating a large number of students pursuing higher education. Some of them provide high-quality education and maintain a global standard.
But there are some universities which are still running without complying with the act.
For example, the act makes it compulsory for a private university to have a permanent campus within five years of launching. But more than two dozens of universities could not move to their own campuses despite the government's several warnings.
On February 6 this year, President Abdul Hamid, also the chancellor of all the universities, sat with the vice chancellors of the universities.
He gave 16 directives to the universities including moving to permanent campuses, not charging additional admission fees and preparing a policy to recruit teachers.
Comments