Outline of Introduction and Background In recent years, private universities have been overgrowing in Dhaka city.
As the capital gets more populated, the number of students seeking higher education is also increasing day by day. Under UGC (University Grants Commission), private universities first started to operate in 1992. In just about one and a half decade, the number of private universities has increased radically from just one to fifty-six in total! It is an alarming fact that most of these universities claim to provide high standard education whereas in real terms they are not. Private universities UGC What is UGC? Role and operations. Definition. Origin. Overgrowth.
General perception of private universities. Students perspective. Parents perspective.
How private universities are violating the rules of UGC? Some important rules of UGC? Which are not being followed?
A view of the student population of Bangladesh. Problems that are common in every private university. In terms of academic standards. In terms of allocation of space. In terms of facilities.
How private universities are manipulating the certification as business product? Dhaka the central market for universities to sell degrees. Economic and social Problems due to overgrowth of private universities.
Outline of Data Presentation and Analysis Based on the fact that most private universities are profit-motive, a survey was conducted among university students of a total of 14 different universities. The hypothesis stated that private universities are selling education as business products. This survey attempts to find out whether private university students really agree that private universities are becoming more profit-oriented. Total no. of respondents: 43 1. Does your university have its own campus? (a) Yes. (b) It is under construction. (c) Planning is underway. (d)No. Almost everyone (around 79%) chose option A. This indicates that most private universities have their own campus. There is still a portion of private universities that are running on renting spaces and not providing a campus to students. 2. Why did you choose a private university over a public university? (a) No politics or session jams. (b) Difficult to enroll into public universities. (c) Better standards and better facilities. (d)No specific reasons. (e) Particular comments. Around half of the participants agreed to option (a). This shows that students nowadays would rather choose a private university to finish their higher education in time. The number of students desiring to get enrolled into private universities is rising. A small portion (about 19% of the participants) agreed to (b). It is easier to get enrolled to a private university. Only 3 respondents selected option (c). Students(in majority) are not satisfied with the standards of their current university(private).
3. Do you think it would have been better if you were in a public university? (a) Yes, less tuition fees, nice study environment. (b) Yes, since there not profit motive. (c) No, they allow student politics and corruption. (d) No, private universities have better standards. (e) Particular comments. About 30% respondents chose option (a). A portion of university students consider private universities as profitoriented. Around 40% chose option(d). This indicates that the top private universities are profit-motive but again they maintain good standards. A notable 19% argued with option (c). If student politics was banned in public students, these would definitely select public universities. Majority of students actually consider private universities to be profitoriented. 4. What are the tuition fees per credit in your university? (a) Tk.1500 - Tk.2500. (b) Tk.2501 - Tk.3000. (c) Tk.3001 - Tk.3500. (d) Tk.3501 Tk.4000. (e) Tk.4001-4500. (f) More than 4500. Around 63% respondents selected option (a). A majority of the private universities charge almost the same amount of tuition fees. 5. What is the faculty to student ratio in your university? (a) About 1:10. (b) Around 1:15. (c) Overall 1:20. (d) 1:25 in approximate. (e) Around 1:30. (f) More than 1:30. About 42% and 28% of the respondents selected option (d) and option (e) respectively. Most private universities have are overpopulated with students. Though they have reached student saturation, they are still enrolling more and more students. About 12% of the participants chose option (e).
Some universities are just doing business by enrolling more and more students every semester.
6. What is your opinion about the grading policies of private universities? (a) Same grading policy should be maintained. (b) Grading policies should be different. (c) No comments. (d) Particular comments. 82% of the respondents selected option (a). Students expect all private universities to maintain same standard.
7. Why do you think the grading policies differ? (a) Depends on academic standards. (b)Depends on the quality and number of students enrolled. (c) Depends on tuition fees charged per credit. (d) Particular comments. About three-fourth of the participants selected option (a). Students realize that academic standards of all private universities are not same. About less than one-fourth also suggested option (b). Students understand that there is no fixed student seat limit in private universities. 8. How do you identify your university? (a) Non-profit motive. (b) Profit motive. (c) Non-profit based institution with higher tuition fees. (d) No idea. (e) Particular comments. Around 56% of the participants selected option (b). There are a lot of private universities that are profit motive. About 20% supported option (c). There are some private universities, only a minority, that are not profit motive. 9. How do the facilities and resources in your university weigh the tuition fees charged per credit? (a) Up to date and so extra fees. (b) The fees are excessively high in contrast to the facilities. (c) Facilities need to be improved. (d)Particular comments. Around 37% of the respondents selected option (b) and 32% chose option (c).
Most private universities charge a lot of fees but needs immediate improvement in facilities offered. About 23% agreed to option (a). There are some private universities that are maintaing good standards.
10. Which of the following needs to be improved in your university? (a) Good faculty to student ratio. (b) Up to date laboratories. (c) Up to date online resources. (d) All of the above. (e) My university is perfect. About half of the respondents suggested option(d). Private universities are charging a lot of money but are not improving the quality. Less than a quarter agreed to option(e). There are some universities that are improving their facilities for the students.
11. Do you think your university is properly maintaining the tuition waiver and scholarships program? (Provided you are eligible to receive one)? (a) Yes it is doing so. (b) High requirements, very few students end up getting one. (c) Not actually. (d) No. Many eligible candidates are not getting waivers. (e) Particular comments. More than half of the respondents selected (a). Private universities do give opportunities to students who need waiver programs to study. Another half argued with options (b) and (c). Some private universities just talk about waiver programs for publicity.
12. What is your comment about private universities selling certificates or enrolling students in exchange of money? (a) Its awful. (b) Since its a private university, its okay. (c) I dont care. (d) It is a rumor. More than half of the respondents selected (a). Selling certificates is unethical.
13. Do private universities just sell degrees or maintain good academic standards? (a) They just sell degrees. (b) They maintain good academic standards, they do not sell degrees. (c) Well they are private universities; they have the right to do both. (d) I dont have any idea. About half of the participants argued with option (b). Generally, not all private universities sell degrees. Few private universities do sell degrees. About a quarter chose option (c) and (d). There are a portion of private universities that do not maintain good academic standards. 14. Finally, how far do you agree that private universities are becoming more profit-oriented recently? Please explain a little. A majority of the respondents complained about private universities in terms of facilities. Many inferred that universities are enrolling too much students and are also overgrowing. Private universities are becoming more oriented towards profit.
Conclusively, all the data from the survey suggest generally private universities are profit- motive. While some of these universities also maintain good academic standards, most do not.
