The UGC that works as watchdog of the universities, has revealed this startling information in its 2005 annual report, published recently. While drawing some damning conclusions on the state of higher education at 24 public universities in the country, the UGC said, spending more of the budget allocation on other heads than in education, the public universities have made it impossible to maintain and improve the quality of education.

The UGC allocated Tk 508.55 crore for 24 public universities in the 2005-06 fiscal years and the net budget deficit of the public universities was Tk 9.02 crore in the same fiscal year. The public universities have been spending a huge amount of money for transport, electricity and for running schools and colleges in the campuses. The UGC has termed all such expenditures as "misuse" that are not related to university education.

Eventually the UGC has recommended that the government should take appropriate steps for curbing the misuse of autonomy by most of the public universities as those are introducing new departments, recruiting redundant and unfit teachers and officials and also promoting and providing them with extra-financial facilities, which essentially means that spending on education would shrink further.

Both the numbers of students and university have marked a sharp rise over last few years. But the quality of higher education has eroded instead of being improved. A growing number of malpractices including weak teaching, scarcity of contact hours between students and teachers, lack of teacher's morality and dependence of students on photocopy notes, have long since been eating into the vitals of our education in its highest tier.

Now let us come to where a much more serious problem persists. The university teachers, who used to enjoy a very high social profile, have now chosen to make fortune through political maneuver. Consequently, the students have lost seriousness in academic pursuits and have become interested to procure a certificate by hook or by crook. This situation has led the higher education towards an extremely unfortunate direction.

Such a crisis in the public universities has created justification of setting private universities and as many as 54 of them have sprung up in the recent years. But these private universities remain off-limits for many deserving students from non-affluent back ground because of their inordinate costs.

UGC, the apex body for controlling higher education in the country, has neither executive authority nor any legal mechanism for taking action against universities for aberrant practices. According to Section 5(1) of the President's Order (1973), the functions of the UGC include, to assess the needs of the universities for their academic pursuits and to formulate plans for its development, to receive funds from the government and disburse such funds to the universities.

UGC suggested for formation of the Accreditation Council having representatives from all stakeholders, for ensuring quality of higher education and for bringing in accountability and transparency in the management of the universities. It also suggested a standardized recruitment policy of teachers for all public universities to provide openings for qualified faculty members through a transparent process.

UGC sent the recommendations to the education ministry, proposing to introduce a uniform grading system in all universities to ensure standardization of the degrees that they offer. But the Ministry of Education is yet to finalize these proposals which need serious consideration. Not only that, the country does not have any full-fledged education policy even 35 years after independence, despite six education commissions were constituted.

It is really painful to find that not a single university of Bangladesh has been included in the list of 500 top universities, though it contained the names of 93 universities of the Asia and Pacific region, including three from India.

The Institute of Higher Education of the Shanghai Zean Tau University recently carried a world-wide survey on more than 2,000 universities, ranking 500 universities in terms of their excellence in research and other academic pursuits. None of our universities has also been included in the list of 100 top universities of Asia and Pacific region, and not a single university of Bangladesh has been included in the list of 500 top universities, though it contained the names of 93 universities of the Asia and Pacific region, including three from India.

Dhaka University which came to get fame as the Oxford of the East, was a significant player in the field of research and other academic pursuits. Satyen Bose did his "Bose-Einstein" statistics as a young teacher of this university amazing the world. That glory of this illustrious university is now a tale belonging to the past. It now attracts world's attention only for pitched battles between rival student groups.

Education is the area, which has been kept above all political rivalry in most of the countries in the world. Sadly, the politicians of Bangladesh are conspicuously devoid of such sense. Naked politicization in every field of national life has not spared the education sector and political nepotism in recruiting unfit teachers has also contributed to the decline quality in higher education.

Compared to five universities in 1971, the country has now 24 public and 54 private universities. But the quality of education has declined instead of being improved. To be more frank, the quality of our higher education has hit the bottom ruining the future intellectual health of the nation.

As reported by the UGC, the public universities enjoying full autonomy under 1973 Ordinance have indulged in all sorts of improprieties. The Ministry of Education should not be so careless about its regulatory functions of the universities. The caretaker government with its moral leadership and fearless administrative behaviour should come forward to safeguard the most precious of all our assets -- the students, for being educated properly.

ANM Nurul Haque is a columnist of The Daily Star.