Private universities
I read with interest Mr. Saif's letter on 'Private Universities' (April 5) and I would like to express a different opinion. Just because there is a mushroom growth of institutions that call themselves private universities and the UGC is doing nothing to stop it, it does not justify the wholesale criticism that all the private universities are of poor quality and are nothing more than a money-making machine for some greedy entrepreneurs. There were many students like me who had the option to go to public universities, but we chose the private ones instead because they provided a real alternative. The private universities provided us with an academic atmosphere free from political interference and session jam. In retrospect, I am glad that I chose to go to NSU for my undergraduate course in business education. Business education is the area where the private universities are really providing a quality alternative. Before the early 90s, IBA of Dhaka University had the monopoly in business education. As was typical of a monopolist with no effective regulatory oversight, quality of education at IBA was going down the hill. Thanks to the competition from the private universities, IBA is now compelled to improve its curriculum and make some extra efforts to reclaim its past glory.
Mr. Saif pointed out that the graduates of the private universities get good jobs because of the 'connections' of the private universities. For his information, every university in the USA has a career placement department the primary responsibility of which is to gain meaningful employment for its graduates. The private universities of Bangladesh simply adopted this world-wide practice of career placement services. If the graduates of the public universities cannot get a good job because the public institutions are not trying to get jobs for them, it is a problem of the public education system that needs to be addressed. The private universities should not be blamed for the inefficiency of the public ones.
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