Only sound leadership can make the new higher education commission a success

Recently, the Secondary and Higher Education Division under the education ministry circulated the draft Bangladesh Commission on Higher Education (BCHE) Ordinance, 2025 to 10 ministries and divisions seeking opinions. The proposed law aims to replace the University Grants Commission (UGC) with a new statutory regulatory body for overseeing universities and higher education governance in Bangladesh.

Undoubtedly, this is a timely move to address the growing challenges in the country’s higher education sector and to equip universities with the academics, facilities, and resources needed to compete globally. Yet, it remains unclear whether any consultation was conducted with university stakeholders.

The proposed BCHE will consist of a chairman, eight full-time commissioners, and 10 part-time members. The chairman and commissioners will be appointed by the president on the recommendation of a three-member search committee, headed by a former chief justice or a retired Appellate Division judge. The chairman must be of international eminence and proven ability with significant contribution to higher education. But its governing board should include secretaries of the education and finance ministries.

Unlike the existing UGC, whose authority is largely advisory, the proposed commission will be authorised to take punitive action, including suspension of funds and cancellation of programmes, for non-compliance. It will rank universities every three years based on set criteria. The commission is also set to oversee the universities’ financial management to ensure transparency and accountability. It will fund universities based on their performances and needs and encourage raising research income and alumni endowments.

The proposed BCHE is set to ensure uniform policies for recruitment and promotion of all teaching and non-teaching employees across all universities. Appointment of the vice-chancellors, pro-vice-chancellors, treasurers, deans, and administration officers must be done through open competition based on academic credentials.

The commission will promote academia and industry linkage both nationally and internationally and will work to create partnerships with foreign governments and funding agencies. It should introduce a uniform system of annual evaluation and planning of all academics, including teaching performances, innovation, research output/supervision, collaboration/funding, and community/professional services.

The commission must further make sure that the quality of higher education by setting and enforcing clear standards for the appointment and promotion of teachers, based on their qualifications, experience, and achievements.

The commission aims to also introduce a single national admission test, held on the same day, with different question sets tailored to the students’ academic interests or disciplines. Admission places should be offered to the students based on the weighted ranks of their SSC, HSC and admission test results, according to the draft.

The success of the BCHE will depend on its top leadership. Keeping the same old work culture and institutional structure will not make much difference. The new organisation will require leadership with national and international experience in higher education and global eminence. Take Pakistan’s case for example. The founding chairman of Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission (HEC), Prof Atta-ur-Rahman, returned from Cambridge University in 2002 and transformed the higher education landscape of Pakistan. Under his leadership, thousands of young academics received PhD scholarships at top universities, and expatriate academics were encouraged to return. The HEC chairman reports directly to the prime minister, while commissioners and the executive director are academics. The HEC also provides nationwide access to electronic libraries and internet facilities, and supports conferences, publications and academic exchanges to promote high-quality research.

To transform Bangladesh into a knowledge economy and to derive the benefits of demographic dividend, we must reform higher education focusing on skill needs of the international labour market. To that end, we must embrace technology-based skills for creating high-skilled manpower for higher-paid jobs.

One of the main goals of higher education is to create knowledge through research and scholarship and then teach the new knowledge to the students. Bangladesh needs an integrated national approach for higher education, innovative research, and research development. This is a matter that requires strong leadership and significant funding commitment to overhaul the whole education system to produce quality graduates and world-class researchers.

Bangladesh has a lot of potential to be globally competitive, but a lack of leadership, honesty, resources, and the right work culture has deprived our people from the benefits of education and research. Reforming the system and bringing new leadership are essential if the country is serious about making tangible progress.

It is also important to consider having a national research umbrella organisation to connect all domestic research organisations and to determine and manage national research funding requirements. Such an organisation will play an instrumental role in implementing national priority research agenda, connecting non-resident Bangladeshi researchers, and expanding international research collaboration.

Without changing the research culture in the higher education system, ensuring governance and accountability at universities, and establishing merit-based appointments and promotion at all levels, the proposed commission on higher education would bring limited improvement. Educationalists, including scientists and researchers, will have a historic opportunity after the upcoming national election to transform higher education in Bangladesh—beginning from primary and secondary levels—and focus on research development if the right leadership is chosen and the new government is serious about improving human resources.

Dr Shahjahan Khan is emeritus professor at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia, and former vice-chancellor of the Asian University of Bangladesh. He can be reached at shahjahan.khan@unisq.edu.au.

Views expressed in this article are the author's own.

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