Bangladesh University Grants Commission (UGC) wants to rein in evening, weekend and executive courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels running in various public universities.
In a recommendation to the President, the UGC said these courses are having a negative impact on the overall functioning of the university.
Last Thursday, a delegation led by UGC Chairman Professor Kazi Shahidullah submitted the 48th Annual Report 2021 with 17 recommendations to President Md Abdul Hamid.
Apart from this, 'Independent Recruitment Commission' to prevent nepotism and corruption in the recruitment of teachers-officers-employees in public universities, formulation of 'uniform financial policy and financial manual' to restore financial order, full power to implement recommendations against various irregularities and corruption and 'education loan' to poor students UGC has recommended giving.
In the recommendation, the UGC said, it is necessary to close the courses as they are against the character, image and interest of the regular students.
However, according to the specific policies of the universities, diploma, short courses, vocational and training programs can be conducted with the prior approval of UGC for the purpose of creating skilled manpower.
UGC member Prof Dr Biswajit Chandra Chanda said, “Some good recommendations have been highlighted in the report. 17 recommendations have been made to solve the ongoing and permanent crisis in the higher education sector.”
According to the UGC report, it is necessary to use blockchain technology in the universities of the country to prevent certificate fraud. With the help of frontier technology, the certificate will be stored in the blockchain repository and the hard copy of the certificate will have a QR code attached, which can be easily verified using a smartphone application or web application.
Apart from this, the report calls on the government to allocate the necessary budget for the establishment of University Teachers Training Academy to produce quality teachers at the university level of the country, Central Research Laboratory to conduct quality research, National Research Council to identify the required areas of research.
In the recommendation, to create skilled manpower with moral values and to ensure international quality education at the higher education level, academic master plan in each university, determining the amount of land for setting up campuses of newly established universities at a reasonable level and making policies at which level education programs can be started are also mentioned.
