Seven Colleges under Dhaka Central University in Limbo

The seven government colleges – previously affiliated with Dhaka University (DU) – are now in limbo due to the government’s plan to create a new university called Dhaka Central University (DCU) to govern them. The primary issues are disagreements over the proposed university’s structure, the draft ordinance and the delayed start of classes for the 2024-25 session. Students who got admitted for the 2024-25 session have been left in uncertainty and frustration because classes, scheduled to begin in late November 2025, are yet to commence. This has sparked frequent student protests and traffic blockades in the city. The issue persists, the protests continue, and nearly two lakh students suffer!

The major crisis stems from administrative and academic uncertainty, a delay in finalising the new university’s ordinance, ongoing disputes over the proposed university structure, and staff protests regarding their future or career progression. As a result, students have faced delays in admissions and the commencement of classes for the new academic session. However, the colleges are being run under an interim arrangement.

The decision to affiliate seven colleges with Dhaka University was seen by many academics as a bad one due to some significant issues like delayed exams and results, which were compounded by the university’s lack of resources to manage the additional workload and deal with the situation efficiently. This led to student protests and resulted in the government’s decision to separate the colleges and create a new institution called Dhaka Central University. While the affiliation was intended to improve academic standards, its execution was flawed.

The seven colleges’ affiliation with DU officially ended in January 2025, but the newly proposed university has not yet been officially established because the ordinance is yet to be finalised. These colleges are currently managed under an interim arrangement with the principal of Dhaka College as an administrator. The lack of a finalised university structure caused unwanted delays. Admissions for the 2024-25 academic session are completed, but classes have not yet started. This procrastination led to frustration and anxiety among the students. Many teachers are protesting against the proposed new structure, citing concerns that the conversion to a university could negatively impact their career progression and promotion system, as it might eliminate their subject-specific positions within the civil service. There are differing views among teachers, students and experts on the proposed structure of DCU. Some of them have already questioned its viability and potential to limit access to higher education. The crisis highlights deeper, long-standing issues in the governance of these colleges. And, again, these colleges are going to be governed by a new university, though a clear, effective and proper plan of action from the government is yet to be formulated.

On the one hand, students and parents alleged that many honours subjects taught in the seven colleges did not appear in the proposed university’s structure. Concerns were also raised that women’s education could be undermined under the new system. Students demanded a revision of the draft. While students who got admitted this year are now treated as students of DCU, education cadre (BCS) teachers have not yet been included as faculty under the proposed structure. The teachers, in a dilemma, also demand that the ordinance include education cadre teachers at all levels under DCU from the 2024-25 academic session.

On the other hand, higher secondary students of these colleges say that if a university is established under the proposed structure, the HSC-level students might face an existential crisis. Higher secondary students of Dhaka College also protested in front of the college because they feared that under the proposed structure, higher secondary education programmes would be adversely affected.

Since these colleges preserve their individual heritage, it needs to be kept intact. As establishing a full-fledged university campus is very time-consuming, the government needs to implement a “federated school model” where the seven colleges would function as distributed schools under a central governance system. The new administration of DCU under the new ordinance should establish its own governance that could involve grouping colleges into academic schools (e.g. School of Science, School of Arts & Social Science, School of Business, etc.) to take care of teaching-learning activities. The government should hold a meeting with agitating teachers to specify absorption mechanisms, to determine service rules and to deal with other relevant pathways. The government should immediately halt new recruitment through the BCS exam for teaching positions in seven colleges and make sure future appointments are based on new specific criteria for the university teachers. The government should rethink the entire policy and stop merging the colleges into a single university. It should be more logical to preserve each college’s unique history and gradually upgrade them into separate universities in the future. Some academics and higher education experts suggest bringing the seven colleges back under the National University to resolve the problems, as it was the established system prior to their affiliation with Dhaka University. The VC of National University could take the lead to help the government overcome this crisis or limbo!

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The writer is an Associate Professor, Department of English, Stamford University Bangladesh.

He could be reached at [email protected]