Bangladeshi universities have reached at an embarrassing low in the latest regional ranking. Asia University Rankings 2016, published today by Times Higher Education shows, Bangladesh is the weakest South East Asian nation in higher education sector.
Among the top 200 universities in SE Asia, Bangladesh has just one in the bottom. While close neighbor India tops the regional rankings with 16 universities.
The lone Bangladeshi university; the University of Dhaka made way in the last tier of the rows (191-200) with very poor performance in key indicators like teaching standard, international outlook, research volume and citations.
Data provided by Times Higher Education shows the University of Dhaka’s performance is weaker than even conflict-torn Pakistan’s Quaid-i-azam University. This university from Pakistan ranked at 11th tier (101-110) with another one in 13th tier.
According to the report, former coordinator of the World Bank’s tertiary education program Jamil Salmi says that Bangladesh has not invested the levels of resources needed for competing internationally, not to mention the high level of politicization of its public universities.
Mr. Salmi said, ‘The main political parties “wage ideological battles through the professors and students’ syndicates”, which can result in frequent industrial action “that disturbs the normal course of studies and research.’
