Revitalising Rajshahi University

Depoliticise the university. Photo: Iqbal Ahmed/ Drik News

IN the last US presidential election, Americans voted in favour of Barak Obama's call for change. Like the US election, the people of Bangladesh voted in favour of AL's call for change and promise to build a Digital Bangladesh. Thus, the people's expectations from this government are immense. This piece is an attempt to express my expectations from the RU authority.
Along with changes in the central government, changes in the administration of public universities have become a routine matter since it has been a part of our political culture. The process of bringing changes in the administrative positions became more frequent in the 1990s. Changes were brought in the university administration even by the previous caretaker government (2007-2008).
Although making changes in the university administration just after change in the central government is not admirable, we can, however, support this initiative considering the political culture of Bangladesh. This is because it is very hard for the university authorities to receive cooperation from the central government if they do not belong to the party in power. For instance, we can refer to the case of US, where a good number of employees are changed with the change of the president. Thus, we can exercise this option in different institutions, especially in autonomous bodies.
Now I will concentrate on RU. The PM wants to bring a qualitative change in every aspect of our country. What does qualitative change in the case of public universities mean? First of all, the authorities should build the institution as a centre of excellence instead of a centre of politics. During the last seven years, merit was overshadowed by nepotism, favouritism and corruption, which were the main principles in the selection criteria.
Since I am a faculty in the Department of Public Administration, I will cite an example from my department so that the readers may judge the situation. In mid-2005, the Departmental Planning Committee recommended the recruitment of three lecturers. As far as I know eight candidates applied for three posts of lecturer. Two candidates had four first classes and the rest had three first classes. The selection committee recruited six lecturers, ignoring the Departmental Planning Committee's recommendation for recruitment of three lecturers.
What struck me most was that one candidate having four first classes were not selected, even through five candidates having three first classes were. Some sources said that the candidate having four first classes was excluded since her father was involved in Awami politics. There were allegations of lots of similar cases during that time.
Apart from teacher selection, 546 employees were also recruited in the same way. If a candidate's political identity is considered in the selection process, how will it be possible to ensure quality education in the higher educational institutions?
The AL government has brought changes in the university administration. Being an ordinary citizen and a teaching faculty, I personally expect something exceptional from the present administration. I have known the VC and Pro-VC for a long time, and they are believed to have a clean image.
What are my expectations from the RU administration? First of all, I certainly expect that they will build RU as a centre of excellence and try their best to restore the image of RU, which had been damaged during the last seven years. While recruiting teaching staff, they should follow merit as the only principle instead of political consideration. They should recruit qualified teachers in place of voters, because there is a common perception that nowadays university authorities recruit voters instead of teachers. They should also follow the merit principle in the recruitment of employees. Even in the case of selecting people for different administrative positions they should consider the candidate's academic excellence instead of political maturity.
Finally, let me take the opportunity to thank the university administration for setting up an enquiry committee to look into the charges of nepotism, favouritism and corruption that had taken place during BNP-Jammat administration. At the same time, I would like to request the authorities not do anything in their tenure so that another enquiry committee is formed when they will not be in power.

Dr. Pranab Kumar Panday is an Associate Professor of Public Administration at Rajshahi University.

E-mail: [email protected].