Nakib Hossain (an alias) graduated with honours from a private university in 2019. A few months after his graduation, he secured a job as an assistant to a foreign graduate his company hired from India. The foreign employee earns more than ten times what Nakib earns and while Nakib's salary increments are rare, the foreign employee's salary increases rapidly.
“I did not really learn anything at my university. All I received was a certificate. We are at a disadvantage because we cannot compete with foreigners; their work capacity and skills are far superior to ours,” Nakib said.
Nakib's situation is not unique. Most private university graduates lack soft skills and are unable to secure the jobs they expect. Only a few universities produce graduates with the skills that the job market demands.
The majority of universities fail to provide students with practical knowledge or critical thinking skills, leaving them unprepared for the competitive job market.
Poor education causing skill gap, low employment
Most universities are offering students a very low-quality education, focusing more on theoretical knowledge rather than practical skills. Moreover, many universities operate with only one professor holding a PhD, and almost all are dominated by lecturers.
This results in a shortage of experienced faculty to mentor students and enhance their learning experience, further contributing to the overall decline in educational standards.
Meanwhile, graduates from some reputed universities are still performing well and their job reputation remains high. However, most of these graduates go abroad for higher studies and rarely return to Bangladesh.
As a result, employers are forced to hire foreign graduates for white-collar jobs and appoint native graduates as their assistants so that they can learn the appropriate skills.
A 2019 study by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) revealed that 44 per cent of private university graduates found employment after their graduation.
Meanwhile, according to a Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) study conducted in 2022, around 46 per cent of private employers in the country reported difficulties in finding suitable candidates for job vacancies due to a lack of required skills.
‘Pvt universities must improve education quality’
Mutual Trust Bank Ltd Managing Director and CEO Md Syed Mahbubur Rahman said, “The number of private university graduates working in my institution is steadily increasing. However, we often struggle to find graduates who meet our quality standards.”
“After joining the workplace, most private university graduates struggle with practical tasks. They lack essential skills, and we find that only one out of ten is capable of performing the job perfectly. This issue was more significant a few years ago,” he said.
“It would be beneficial if private university authorities focused on improving the quality of their education and the skills of their graduates in the future. Private university graduates could lead in corporate jobs if the courses were designed to be market-oriented,” he said.
Shovon Islam, managing director of Sparrow Group and vice president of Microsoft Compiler Technology, told The Business Post that many private university graduates cannot even write their curriculum vitae properly or use email effectively.
“We hire foreign graduates for white-collar jobs, while our native graduates work as their assistants. The universities are suffering from a shortage of quality teachers, which results in the production of sub-standard graduates,” he said.
“We used to have skilled and quality graduates in the past. Now, the graduates lack basic knowledge in their respective subjects. The universities should take immediate steps to develop world-class graduates,” he added.
Call for practical education
Faruque Hassan, former president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and managing director of Giant Textiles Limited, told this correspondent that the subjects offered by private universities should be designed to be market-oriented, and students must acquire practical knowledge in their respective fields.
“Private universities should enhance their laboratories with modern equipment and increase their focus on generating knowledge through research while maintaining quality. Then, we can produce more skilled graduates,” he said.
Professor Dr Atiqul Islam, vice-chancellor of North South University (NSU), told The Business Post that NSU graduates are performing well in the job market. “Most NSU graduates have secured jobs. However, we are continuously striving to ensure our graduates meet world-class standards,” he said.
“However, many universities are behind and cannot meet the demands of the market in the absence of quality teachers,” he added.
Cultural factors, outdated teaching methods
“Children develop as self-dependent and skilled individuals through real-life experiences in foreign countries. In Bangladesh, academia is result-oriented, and students are mainly assessed based on the marks or grades they achieve in examinations. This bookish knowledge rarely benefits them in their professional lives, where they need to interact with various customers and face real-life challenges. This situation arises because they have very few opportunities to become self-reliant in a society where parents, guardians, and teachers dominate every aspect of their lives.
Teachers at educational institutions across Bangladesh are still following outdated teaching methods, dictating to students without recognising their needs or fostering a thirst for knowledge. It is challenging for universities to make such students competent for the current job markets,” Professor Dr Atiqul Islam explained.
University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) Vice-Chancellor Professor Imran Rahman told The Business Post that the standard of Bangladeshi graduates is below par. “But we are trying to improve the standard by imparting quality education, and it is our current challenge.”
“We do not get eligible students to study at higher education institutions. The students are growing up with a lack of basic knowledge from their primary level. The education ministry must take the initiative to improve the overall basic education quality of students. Otherwise, an even worse situation awaits us,” he added.
