Report of Workshop on Public Private Partnership in Higher Education in Bangladesh

A daylong workshop on Public Private Partnership in Higher Education in Bangladesh was held at UGC auditorium on August 28, 2012. Asian Development Bank (ADB) in association with University Grants Commission (UGC) organized the workshop. Honorable Finance Minister of the Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh Mr. Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, MP graced the function as the Chief Guest while Professor Dr. A. K. Azad Chowdhury, State Minister, Honorable Chairman, UGC presided over the function. Professor Dr. Atful Hye Shibly, Honorable Member, UGC and Professor Dr. Abul Hashem, Honorable Member, UGC and Focal point, TA project on PPP in higher education delivered a welcome speech in this ceremony. Professor Dr. M Muhibur Rahman, Honorable Member, UGC, gave the vote of thanks on this auspicious occasion. Professor Dr. M A Mannan, National consultant (TA Project: PPP in higher education) gave the introductory speech in addition to above. Besides, academia from public-private universities, activists, business tycoons, representatives from donor agency and government agencies, and from local and international NGOs took part in this daylong workshop and gave their precious recommendations. Delegates from different parts of the country representing different streams of social sciences were presented in this ceremony. The daylong workshop was held in three folds inaugural session, two technical sessions (paper presentations combined with interactive discussion). A number of sound suggestions and recommendations came out from the valuable speeches by honorable guests and the participants in the workshop. Address by the Chief Guest The Chief Guest in this occasion, Mr. Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, MP, Honorable Finance Minister of the Government of Peoples Republic of Bangladesh delivered a inspiring speech at the inaugural session. His exquisite discussion on the higher education around the world was immensely enjoyable. He told that being a developing country, Bangladesh left no stone unturned in establishing a sound environment for higher education. However, being a densely populated country, Bangladesh needs to address several dying issues apart from higher education in maintaining its current flow of economic and other activities. In this regard public private partnership (PPP) project can ease some of the pressures from the government. Though PPP is a new jargon in the world economy, he pointed out that higher education started in this subcontinent through private initiatives. From the Mughal emperor to the British east india regime, education was provided by the private sectors. For example, the Presidency College, the Sankskrit College, the Muhsin College etc. Not only in this subcontinent, other great universities around the world like Oxford University, University of Sorbonne etc. all started their journey through private initiatives.

Currently India, Malaysia and many other countries started PPP in many sectors. He encouraged the private participation and clarified why nationalization occurred in Bangladesh after independence. The country at that time was in a fragile condition for private organization to smoothly run the economic activities; this is the reason why government took the nationalization process. He also pointed out that 90% of secondary education is in private sector, therefore making room for private sectors to participate in higher education in Bangladesh along with the government. Finally, he urged for identifying the key areas to establish PPP in the higher education sector so as to achieve the goal of digitization by the current government. Address by the UGC Chairman: Honorable UGC Chairman, State Minister, Professor Dr. A. K. Azad Chowdhury in his presidential speech observed that most of the biggest companies of the world like Apple Computers, Microsoft etc. are from private sector. The most cutting edge researches around the world are conducted through PPP. The whole gamut of the higher education sector is now going through the assistance of PPP. He encouraged private sectors to come forth and establish PPP in higher education. Nothing can be nobler other than facilitating education. The current scenarios are constantly changing. China and South Korea have gained success in facilitating PPP in higher education sector. Technology, science, and education can be changed through PPP in Bangladesh.

Address by Professor Mannan, National Consultant Normally there is no project in higher education sector under development partners of Bangladesh. Many universities are in financial hardship and government has limited funding to accommodate the needs of these higher education institutes. National University has over 75% enrolment but the National University is totally neglected with respect to research and academic assistances provided by the government. Public universities also have higher financial demand to flourish. Notwithstanding this fact, finance is the major constraint above all. Professor Mannan urged to assist the higher education sector and asked for PPP initiatives. There is a good prospect of PPP in Bangladesh. However, the donors demanded series of intellectual discussions from the respective stakeholders to generate proper and viable ideas in order to implement PPP in Bangladesh. He asserted that if everything goes well, the PPP project can be initiated by the donor organization which worth approximately BDT 1500 crore. This will be a technical assistance project. Professor Mannan delineated that the major agenda in this first workshop is to discuss the strategic challenges and prospects of PPP in higher education in Bangladesh, the role of private sector regarding their participation, and the potential initiatives government can take. He also laid down the topics to be covered in subsequent series of discussions which consist of options for PPP, priority areas (for example: market

relevance, capacities for research etc.), policy support and legal support, communication asymmetry between public and private sectors etc. Professor Mannan also highlighted a fact which can be proved to be very instrumental in turning PPP into success. He mentioned that private sector may commercialize the technology produced by institution assisted by donors. If this goes well, the focus will be shifted to how subsequent financing and management issues will be undertaken. He asked for least effort by the stakeholders which we all think will be sufficient enough to attain the success of PPP in higher education in Bangladesh.

Technical Sessions: Two papers were presented in the workshop on which academicians, activists, and representatives from donor agencies, NGOs, and Government took part gave their valuable opinions. Professor Dr. Mohammad Mohabbat Khan presented the first paper relating to the strategic challenges of higher education in Bangladesh and the role of PPP in addressing the challenge. He said education is a change agent; it leads to social and economic transformation. It is also needed for coping with global competition, for innovation and technological progress, enhancement of research outputs etc. However, he mentioned that there are some constraints in higher education in Bangladesh: access to higher education is low; quality of higher education with respect to research outputs, educational environment, diverse disciplines etc.; financial and administrative governance lack transparency and accountability; presence of market irrelevance between higher education and national priorities; there is no efficiency measure to follow up the performance of higher education and faculties; lack of physical infrastructure. All these factors led to a higher education system in Bangladesh which is dilapidated. However, the inclusive growth is very optimistic in higher education, i.e., number of student enrolment and universities have increased over the years. Nonetheless, he stressed one point which is very important to think carefully: the mode and share of financing in higher education. Government finance is the major share of higher education costs. But recently, the share of public expenditures in higher education has decreased slightly. He also pointed out the emerging challenges in higher education in Bangladesh. These are geographical imbalance of universities, language of instruction, inadequate researches, needs of financial resources, inadequate quality, value education etc. Finally, professor Dr. Mohammad Mohabbat Khan discussed the prospects of PPP in higher education in Bangladesh. He asked for external assistance because of the lack of financial and managerial capacities of government which sometimes impede their ability to cater the national education system. He presented few models of PPP in higher education and also provided the rationale of developing PPP in the education

sector. Finally, he highlighted PPP and university-industry linkage along with some suggestions for stronger university industry alliances. Professor Md. Shadat Ulla, Vice-Chancellor of She-e-Bangla Agricultural University said that financing is the most challenging issue in higher education development in Bangladesh. He also few other factors that contribute to the underdevelopment of higher education in Bangladesh. These are lack of continuous training for faculty and outdated syllabus. But he raised some questions regarding the role of stakeholders in PPP: why will the investors invest? Since investors are driven by profit motive, what will be their actions if higher education sector provides them with lower level of profits? Ms. Rasheda K Chowdhury, Executive Director, Campaign for Popular Education said that being an activist she will seek one thing and that is gender issue. She added that gender issue should be considered and gender justice should be ensured. She also pointed out several thoughts. She said that politics should be differentiated from nepotism. She hailed the role of constructive politics. Affordability in higher education has also been discussed. She sought for some provisions with regard to the dropout students. She advocated that professional and vocational education can be arranged for those people who usually dropout from the higher education stream. Lack of training in research methodology is a terrifying factor for any country to shine in research and development. She also mentioned that grant in research and development should be increased to ensure the success the higher education. Finally she asserted that value education should be linked to proper hierarchy in education. She urged to minimize equality divide and to restore gender parity in higher education. Professor Dr. Md. Rafiqul Hoque, Vice Chancellor, Bangladesh Agricultural University opposed the idea of Professor Md. Shadat Ulla with regard to the profit motive of the private stakeholders. He said that private enterprises should be incorporated in such a way that they can benefit along with the public sector. He sought for measures relating to financial and internal resource development. He added that student unrest in public universities is a concern. He also pointed out lack of student counseling is a contributing factor to the distance between students and teachers. He thinks teacher quality should be increased in order to increase the quality in higher education and he urged for a faculty evaluation process to be started by the help of University Grants Commission of Bangladesh. Finally, he hailed the performance of Bangladesh Agricultural University with respect to the technological adaptation and contribution to national productivity. At the same time, he expressed his serious concern over the under publicity of the accomplishment of higher educational institutions of Bangladesh. Professor Dr. Chowdhury Mofizur Rahman, Pro Vice Chancellor, United International University asked for whether it is possible to fund English language development programs through ADB which will be conducted by British Council. He stressed that

the demand for global world should be determined. In this connection, he cited that nursing sector is a booming sector in todays world which may provide a missing link. He also pointed out a major concern which is very important in connection with the higher education sector in Bangladesh. He said maximum graduates come from national university, the quality of which is not good. We have to address that issue. Moreover, there is a discrepancy between curricula and industry work which should be restored. The questions set in the Bangladesh Civil Service examination should also be modified in order to retain the most promising graduates of our country. In such way, relevance can be ensured. Finally, he asked for less subsidization of public universities; he stated that subsidization in higher education is not sustainable in the long run for a country like us. Moreover, student politics is needed to be removed from the educational institutions for smooth running. Professor Dr. Durgadas Bhattacharjee, Supernumerary Professor, Dept. of Management Studies, Dhaka Univeristy asked for a more uniform analysis in a paper presented by Professor Dr. Mohammad Mohabbat Khan but he hailed the objectivity of the contents of the paper. He stated that quality in higher education is a concern. He stressed for teacher exchange program. He further added that Dhaka University Evening MBA program has been started to increase the industry linkage. He said the authority started industry collaboration with respect to curriculum development, employment opportunities etc. Professor Kamal Uddin, Treasurer, Dhaka University said faculties and institutes in public universities have been merged together in recent years which create a distortion in research outcomes. Since institutes are more focused on research and faculties are on academic activities, the purpose of research institutes gets hampered when institutes also provide academic activities in line with the faculties. He thinks that industry linkage should be established with the institutes first. He sought for financial subsidy by government or any other sector to mitigate the financial constraint. He also told that financial assistance in the form of loans with lower rate of interest should be encouraged for students which are very prominent in foreign countries. Dr. Shafiqul Islam, Director Education Programme, BRAC explained that Post graduate enrolment at Public Universities requires that a student should have studied and completed the bachelor program at the same department. This is a mere stringent condition stipulated on the students. This cannot help to improve the higher education environment in Bangladesh. The enrolment at post graduate level should be opened for all eligible students and University Grants Commission should take proper steps in this regard. The next paper has been presented by Mr. A. Gafur, Executive Director, American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh (AmCham). The paper discussed the role of higher education in knowledge economy and possible options for PPP/UniversityIndustry Linkages in both global and Bangladesh contexts. He said the engine of

economic growth is increased private sector participation in the economy. Millions of small and medium enterprises are in operation throughout the country, and have been contributing remarkably to the building of this wonderful nation. He held a very optimistic outlook regarding the GDP growth rate so far achieved. He did not dare to think that a 10% GDP growth is impossible and according to him Bangladesh can move towards a double digit growth. However, he is pessimistic over some key hindrances: poor infrastructure and no sign of immediate breakthrough to address this, slow and inefficient bureaucracy, actual corruption and perception of corruption, and uncertainty and unpredictability. He told that intensive industrialization is critically important, and for that matter physical infrastructure and soft infrastructure, legal infrastructure, and governance infrastructure are badly needed to bring about the desired changes, and to foster tangible development. Government should reduce their headache by shifting responsibilities to private sector to develop infrastructure. Private sector can thrive if they are allowed to operate freely in an enabling atmosphere, and the private sector has already proved its ability in Bangladesh. He detailed out the concept of PPP and various models of PPP. He also introduced the concept of Viability Gap Financing (VGF) when he discussed the ways in which government can participate financially. Moreover, a notion of knowledge economy has been discussed thoroughly. He asserted that private sector education helps to alleviate financial constraints by expanding the capacity of the sector, promotes efficiency and effectiveness, overcomes infrastructure and technology constraints, ensures quality through competition, provides flexible curriculum to suit market needs, addresses the mismatch between demand and supply etc. he further detailed out the essence of PPP and the objectives of PPP. However, there are some critical issues related to PPP which have also been discussed in that paper like careful planning of PPP project, solid revenue and cost estimations, user willingness to pay, compliance with contractual agreement, strong legal and regulatory framework, competitive and transparent procurement etc. He then presented the higher education framework of different countries. He sought for few government strategies in higher education sector in Bangladesh. These are: de-politicization of public universities, setting up a national search committee for selecting Vice chancellors and other senior officials, strengthening of UGC, establishment of accreditation council, enhanced support for research, and development of strategies for retaining and developing quality teaching staff. Finally he held a brief discussion on the kind of higher education that we envision for future. In this discussion, the role of nonresident Bangladeshis in our higher education, decentralization, and world class research center have been emphasized among others. Professor Dr. Nitai Chandra Sutradhar, Vice Chancellor, Bangladesh Textiles University said government bureaucracy in recruitment and financing always poses hindrances in the activities of professional and vocational institutes. Hence, many vocational and professional institutes cannot commence their activities even though their physical infrastructure is ready. He also advocated that textile experts can provide assistance to the relevant industries. The most important point that he made

in this connection is that any project that is undertaken in higher education sector must be well planned and well defined; this can reduce the lag time in implementing the project. Professor Dr. Abdul Hamid, Director (Planning and Evaluation), Krishi Gobeshona Foundation said that we need proper guidelines from the highest body of the country. For example in USA, congress voted for a proposal to enhance the secondary education by taking many initiatives. The overwhelming fact in Bangladesh is the lack of political inspiration for higher education by the highest body. Mr. A. Gafur said that garments industry in Bangladesh currently worth $20 billion which has started its journey back in 1971 when the garments industry deemed to be not more than an imagination. It is expected that the industry will worth $60 billion in 10 to 15 years. We are now the second largest exporter of readymade garments. This is the reason why we are optimistic that Bangladesh can attain the double digit economic growth in near future. Professor Dr. Kazi Saleh Ahmed, Former Vice Chancellor, Jahangirnagar University and President, Foundation for Research on Educational Planning and Development said that there is a large asymmetry in students degree and their employment. He fears the recent conversion of engineering or science graduates into MBA graduates. He asked who will take the responsibility to carry on researches in engineering and science discipline if this conversion goes on and on. He added that UGC should be entrusted with proper power and authority. Currently, UGCs major work involves only allotting fund to the public universities among others. Their recommendations are sometimes turned down by the ministry of education. He also discerned a very interesting point: why higher education quality is deteriorating despite of good secondary education results? In response to this question, Mr. A. Gafur promised that next discussions will address this issue. Professor Dr. Chowdhury Mofizur Rahman, Pro Vice Chancellor, United International University mentioned that it is not physical capacities but scarcity of qualified teachers that is more important. He insisted on starting a TV education channel, which should be initiated through the assistance of ADB or other donors. Lectures, admission information can be disseminated by this channel. It can fill the gap created by information asymmetry. Moreover, tax rebates should be provided to channel owner to encourage this kind of practice. Finally, he advised for salary scale restructure like India. New salary scale can encourage facultys integrity and can attract foreign and expatriate Bangladeshi scholars to come and serve the education sector. Mr. Syed Afsor H. Uddin, CEO Public Private Partnership (PPP), PM Office said that PPP came as a result of an outcry for privatization of public provisions in UK. PPP gained momentum only 7 years after the commencement. He stated that institutional framework and capacity building is very necessary to facilitate the process of PPP.

Finally he requested the audience to come up with fresh ideas regarding initiating the PPP in higher education in Bangladesh. Dr. Md. Khaled, Secretary, University Grants Commission insisted on fixing the development challenges, goals and priorities beforehand like Millennium Development Goals. He said that there are no vision, mission, and objectives for universities in Bangladesh. In this case, the goal of the higher education sector should be pre-specified in accordance with the priorities of the society. Moreover, he called for starting a self assessment by faculty themselves, which is currently absent. In addition to this, there is no accreditation council. If these major key factors are absent, then the result of PPP in higher education may become futile. Mr. S. M. Wazed Ali, Deputy Director (Planning and Development), University Grants Commission said that corporate social responsibility should be integrated into PPP initiative. Moreover, he sought for a long term perspective being moved from a winwin situation. Therefore, social benefit can be ensured. Mr. Mirja Shahjamal, Head of Education, British Council mentioned British Council has MOU with UGC regarding English language capacity, leadership development etc. He added British council is currently funding approximately 20 universities for international research and collaboration. But the most annoying fact is that there is lack of support from our faculties in providing feedback. Professor Golam Samdani Fakir, Pro Vice Chancellor, BRAC University wanted to know about the potential private stakeholders in Bangladeshi perspective. He stressed that private universities should be more focused. They should also identify who are competent and provide incentives accordingly. Finally, he urged for upgrading the teaching practices in public and private universities in Bangladesh. Professor Dr. M. Kaykobad, BUET said that we take too many initiatives without mission. We need to implement the recommendations laid down in Education Commission reports. Moreover, education quality is very important. He pointed out that even though we do not have world class universities, we can arrange for world class university conference.

Poster Presentation:
Dr. M. Kaykobad: Ranking and accreditation Starting a education TV channel Modifying question setting and evaluation process especially at the secondary level. Tejian:

Current situation of PPP: Insignificant Non-commitment of public sectors Field for PPP: Supporting the industry by creating incubators at different public and private universities. Higher education should be redefined: who will be beneficiaries, who will receive higher education, role of higher education etc. Possible areas for PPP: Infrastructure can be provided by the public sector Support service may come from private sector Public sector may ask for providing quality education from private sectors Mohiyan: A PPP forum must be formed Sharing of expenditure of researches by business sectors Quality assurance body must be established Each university must establish research cell through PPP which will address the priority issues Boliyan: TA projects are currently being implemented in universities at small scale. Big projects should be enacted. Shopnochari: Ongoing PPP: IUB and Mott Mcdonalds have signed MOU in implementing a private-private partnership in supporting student internship. BRAC University and Robi have started a private-private partnership in supporting Chandra-Boat competition organized by NASA, USA. Possible PPP in Education:

 Establishment of enrolment fund with the support of private sectors and MNCs. Ensuring paid internship for student Creating chairs in different subjects Identifying best practices PPP in conducting innovative research Using TV education channel Establishing e-learning