‘University curriculum fails to meet industrial sector’s needs’

The curriculum universities in Bangladesh follow does not have the topics inserted to meet the needs of the industrial sector, said Muhammad Shahadat Hossain Siddiquee, an economics professor of Dhaka University.

An education and industry support council should be built as part of efforts to build skilled workforce and reduce the number of educated jobless people, he said.

Currently, Bangladesh has a labour force of 6.35 crore people and it is growing at 2.2 percent every year, but Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies says 66 percent of the country's graduates remain unemployed after their education, Siddiquee said.

The professor made the comment at an event titled "Industry-Academia Collaboration for Entrepreneurship Development in Bangladesh".

The SME Foundation and German development organisation Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Bangladesh jointly organised the event, at the Parjatan Bhaban in Dhaka's Agargaon.