Redesign varsity curriculum
Bangladesh has to redesign the curriculum and teaching approaches in the universities to help students become worthy citizens in pluralistic societies and learn skills to face the daunting global challenges, eminent educationist Prof Gowher Rizvi said yesterday.
"We have to design a curriculum that is innovative and in which the pedagogic choices are student-centred," he said while delivering a lecture on 'Reinventing Universities: Higher Education in a Global Society'.
The Asiatic Society of Bangladesh organised the lecture at its auditorium in the city to mark its 58th anniversary.
Prof Rizvi, an adviser to the prime minister on international affairs, said single disciplinary training is an inadequate preparation for students to face the complexity of today's world. Inclusion of multi-disciplinary insights, therefore, is of utmost importance.
Compulsory participation in civic and voluntary activities will be partial requirement for successful completion of a degree, he said.
Teachers must encourage students to volunteer in rural areas. By such activities, students will be exposed to the real life problems and be able to address problems, said Prof Rizvi, also a former vice provost for International Programmes at the University of Virginia, USA.
Less importance on researches is given in the universities here, he said referring to a recent survey of Bangladesh publications in the Library of Congress in Washington DC that overwhelming number of publications in the field of social sciences over the last two decades consisted of reports to donor agencies by the consultants.
"None of our universities have found their way into the top 100 world-class universities of Asia or into the top 500 in the world," Prof Rizvi said.
Faculty members who do not research cannot be effective as teachers, he said, adding that the government must ensure their accountability and quality.
He also said the universities can surely get funding from the corporate bodies without being influenced by them.
Asiatic Society of Bangladesh President Dr Sirajul Islam and General Secretary Prof Mahfuza Khanam also spoke at the programme.
Comments