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Entrepreneurship education in Bangladesh: a beginning.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION IN BANGLADESH: A BEGINNING During the 1970s the population of Bangladesh grew at an annual rate of nearly 3 percent while its food supply grew at an annual rate of only 1 to 2 percent. The country kept getting poorer and poorer as a result. By 1980, as the population approached 90 million, it was one of the poorest countries--and the largest recipient of foreign aid--in the world. The World Bank was the largest donor of this aid. By 1980, however, the Bank concluded that its $200 million per year or more of aid to Bangladesh was being very inefficiently used, and that all economic units in the country had very low productivity--to a large extent because of a lack of sound management. The Bank further decided that the expenditure of several million dollars to improve management education would have a very high ROI. The author had worked in Bangladesh (then known as East Pakistan) from 1969 to 1971 on a Ford Foundation project to create an Institute of Business Administration within the University of Dhaka. That university, along with two others, offered a three-year Bachelor of Commerce (B-Comm) degree and a one-year Master of Commerce (M-Comm) degree. The new Institute was to offer an American-style, two-year MBA. Believing that one of the critical needs of developing countries is the fostering of both entrepreneurs and an environment within which entrepreneurship can flourish, the author designed and introduced a course in entrepreneurship. He was able to teach this course only once, however, for in the middle of the second year the revolution started and he and his family were evacuated from the country. In 1980, the author was asked by the World Bank to return to Bangladesh to design a project to improve management education in the three universities mentioned above and in a Management Development Center (a subdivision of the Ministry of Industry) which ran management seminars and offered non-degree courses. The result was a five-year, $8 million project which would bring 80 Bangladeshi professors to the U.S. for additional degrees, and bring 12 to 15 U.S. professors to Bangladesh as short-term advisors. (The project also contained a number of other components.) As part of the project, the author again returned to Bangladesh in 1983 as an advisor to curriculum revision and, in the ensuing discussions, the three Faculties of Commerce agreed (as one of many changes) that they should introduce two courses in entrepreneurship: a required course for all undergraduates and an elective course for all master's degree students. The idea was that all of the undergraduate students should be exposed to the theories of entrepreneurship, the role of the entrepreneur in history, and the role of the entrepreneur in the industrial development of Bangladesh; and then study some cases of successful Bangladeshi entrepreneurs who might serve as role models for the students. It was hoped that, as a result of exposure to such a course, the potential entrepreneurs in the senior class would identify themselves and take the elective entreprenurship course during their M-Comm program. (It should be noted that over 90 percent of those who complete the B-Comm go on to study for the M-Comm.)

A year later, the author was asked to return for one month to Bangladesh as the Advisor on Entrepreneurship. The question in his mind at this point was, "What can be done in such a short period of time that will be of lasting value?" Until independence, classes in most elementary schools, and in all secondary schools and universities in Bangladesh were taught in English. Since 1971 all of these schools have switched to the Bengali language. Consequently, the students have not been able to read U.S. texts, which most of them would be unable to afford in any event. The author felt that suitable textbooks should be developed for these courses and that these should be published locally and in paperback, so that the students could afford them. (The estimated appropriate price was $3.) It was also believed essential that the textbooks be written in Bengali by the professors who would be teaching the courses and that they be based on the realities of the political, economic, social, and administrative climate in Bangladesh. The first three weeks of the author's visit were devoted, a week at each university, to identifying the professors who would probably teach the entrepreneurship courses which were to become part of a revised curriculum, and to include these professors, the department chairmen and the deans in a series of discussions on the importance of entreprenurship for the development of Bangladesh and the importance of having this subject taught at their institutions. Meanwhile, arrangements were made for the organization of a workshop in Dhaka, during the fourth week, to be attended by the five or six professors from each university who might eventually teach the course. The workshop had four objectives. First, all of the future professors of entrepreneurship were to become acquainted with the literature in this field, including textbooks which had been developed in the U.S. Second, all were to participate in designing the two courses to be offered in Bangladesh. Third, all were to be involved in designing the textbooks which would form the basis of their two courses. Fourth, all were to be involved eventually in writing these textbooks, and hence be committed to using them in their classes. To help achieve the first objective, the author brought to Bangladesh a suitcase filled with relevant books and articles. HE lectured about these writings at the workshop and made them available for perusal by the participants. To aid in achieving the second objective, a guided discussion was held which included all workshop participants and resulted in general agreement concerning the objectives, content, and teaching approach for the two courses. The participants were then divided into smaller, working groups to design the syllabi. Drafts were assembled and distributed, and further discussion resulted in a meeting of minds on this score as well. For the third objective, another general discussion resulted in a consensus as to the broad outlines for the two textbooks. The participants were again divided into working groups, with each group assigned to draft a detailed outline of a section of a text, indicating possible source material. These segments were later assembled, reproduced, and distributed for additional group discussion, during which agreement was reached concerning the textbook outlines.

Topics covered in the undergraduate text include entrepreneurship theory and history, development programs and sources of assistance, and case studies. The graduate text covers some of these same topics, but also includes discussions of the business environment, planning and creating an enterprise, developint a comprehensive business plan, and capital budgeting. To make a start toward achieving the fourth objective, the participants were asked to indicate which chapters they could best write, given their special areas of expertise. This procedure resulted in specific chapters being assigned to specific professors. It was recognized that a follow-up organization was needed. As part of this structure, a campus coordinator was selected for each university, the role of whom was to assure completion of each co-author's task and to provide for quality control. An editorial board was also selected, consisting of the three campus coordinators plus a senior editor. It was agreed that the texts would be drafted in English and, after being assembled and reviewed by the editorial board, would be sent to the present author in the U.S. for review. Upon completion of this review and any necessary revision, the manuscripts would be translated into Bengali by the chapter coauthors, reassembled and reviewed by the editorial board, and published in Dhaka. All participants at the workshop agreed on a time schedule. All that was now lacking was a budget to provide financial incentive for the co-authors and editorial board, and to pay expenses for typing, reproduction, travel, etc. The editorial board agreed on a budget, which totaled only about five thousand dollars per book for the final draft in Bengali, ready for printing. These present writer was able to get the government and the World Bank to revise the project budget to finance the preparation of these two texts. At the time of the writing of this article, the English language drafts of the two textbooks are enroute to the U.S. to be reviewed. The chapter authors and editorial board have kept to their schedule and budget. (It appears that the entire process just might work! In any case, the workshop organized in Dhaka by this author may be thought of as educational entrepreneurship.) In the opinion of the author, courses in entrepreneurship are important, but not critical offerings, for U.S. business schools. In less developed countries (LDCs), however, they are critical elements of the curriculum because of the pressing need to foster entrepreneurship as a motor for economic development. Yet such courses are rarely found in LDC business schools because such schools were modeled after U.S. business schools where, until quite recently, one rarely found entrepreneurship courses. Not only have LDC business schools designed their curricula after those of U.S. business schools, they also use American textbooks--usually in English, but sometimes in direct translation. All of this has usually been done on the advice of American business professors--who apparently have known very little about LDCs. It is vital that we recognized that the culture, the economic infrastructute, the business climate and the role of government in LDCs are far different from what is found in the U.S. The educational curricula of these countries should be tailor-made to their needs. Their textbooks can be based on U.S. texts, but should be significantly adapted to fit the national environments of particular LDCs.

Although education has long extricated itself from pedagogic limitations and embraced multidimensional approaches to imparting knowledge and developing skills the problem mainly remains with the realization of the terminal objective, which, in T.S. Eliot's words, is "to help us escape, not from our own time -- for we are bound by that -- but from the intellectual and emotional limitations of our time." Indeed so preponderant are utilitarian goals of tertiary education in modern times that the liberal component of education - ethics, philosophy and literature, for example -- is sometimes either left out of the curriculum or is merely touched upon. This partly explains why while being experts in the fields they graduate in many graduates lack innovative thinking and falter when it comes to alternative solutions. While there seems no way completely out of the moral dilemma posed by the very controversial nature of fulfilling education, many academics believe the process of bringing out what Socrates calls the inner qualities of a student should begin early at school. In other words teaching has to be essentially heuristic at all levels. Unfortunately, education at the nursery and primary levels in Bangladesh, especially in rural areas, falls far short of acceptable standards mainly through lack of resources. According to an internal report by the Department of Primary Education, about 70 per cent of the children who completed their primary education in 2006 were unable to read, write or count properly. As far as the secondary education in the country is concerned, the curriculum remains essentially oriented towards rote learning. It is however at the university level that substantial progress has been achieved by some private universities like North South University (NSU), East West University (EWU), BRAC University, American International University of Bangladesh (AIUB) and Independent University of Bangladesh (IUB). The progress is conspicuous particularly in the field of Business Education on which the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Dhaka University, had a monopoly in the 80s and 90s. Perhaps a couple of these universities can justifiably claim to have

left IBA way behind them in terms of providing quality BBA education. This spectacular success is not because of any edge on faculty credentials or course curricula - all the above universities offer almost similar courses and their BBA faculty members are almost equally strong - but primarily because of the students' English medium learning background, the institutions' immunity to politics and the availability of ample and varied learning facilities. The case of most other private universities is not as encouraging; many of them function on limited resources and their admission requirements and procedures are quite lax. Not that all the Business Administration graduates produced by these universities do not have sufficient knowledge about the core subjects they have studied e.g. Accounting, Management, Marketing and human Resources; they remain particularly poor on the communicative skill and on the competitive and shrinking job market their university background sometimes becomes a liability.

The most unfortunate truth is the canines of the watch-dog, University Grants Commission (UGC), being blunt, some so-called private universities are making money at the cost of the latent talent of their students. The following are the comments and observations made by the heads of BBA programmes at four leading private universities in Bangladesh. Abdul Professor, Director, Director, Career North South University Hannan School BBA & Chowdhury, of Program Professional Development PhD Business Services

As a pioneering educational institution in Bangladesh, North South University (NSU) has been dedicated to the enrichment and development of all Bangladeshi students and academics. NSU is the first private university in Bangladesh to start the BBA program. Since its inception in 1993, the program has gained huge reputation within country and global eminence. The program is well known for providing high quality education and producing the country's top ranking graduates. So far, NSU has produced over five thousand graduates and our gradautes are well placed nationally and globally. NSU is very scrupulous about its student admission process. It has one of the toughest sets of criteria for new admission in the School of Business. Our low acceptance rate is the evidence of our rigid standard. An applicant must demonstrate extraordinary academic performance in their government administered tests such as S.S.C, H.S.C, or equivalent O & A levels. In addition to

academic results, NSU heavily focuses on extracurricular activities among its students. Our comprehensive admission test is very precise and in keeping with the North American standard. We only admit the best and the brightest in our BBA program. Bangladesh produces hundreds of thousands of high school/college graduates every year. A meager number of them get the chance to study in the BBA program at NSU. Although we admit a relatively large number of students to the BBA program, but that does not ncessarily guarantee a student a degree without hard work. NSU runs a BBA program that is unique in the country; it is of high standard and very rigorous. Anyone who has got admitted to the BBA program but cannot maintain the minimum requirement of the program shall become a drop-out student after a couple of semesters. Therefore, we do not compromise on the standrads nor on the quality of the graduates. Quality education is the single most important commitment from NSU to our students. We strive for quality in every aspect of our academic curriculum. NSU has great faculty bodies drawn from all over the world, execellent resources, state-of-the-art library facilities and other logistics support fit for a great institution. The NSU campus is state of the art and comparable to that of any globally recognized standard. We have a highly competent faculty mostly educated in reputable North American Institutions. Globally renowned personalities take pride in working for North South University as visiting faculty. NSU is a national icon for promoting extracurricular programs for its students. The campus life has been enriched by numerous organizations. NSU hosts many events that facilitate extracurricular learning for the students. It has more than twenty different labs, numerous classrooms and 18 student activity clubs. Another computer center with 600 computers is going to be opened very soon. Recently, in collaboration with two reputable U.S. institutions, NSU organized an international conference on Knowledge Globalization inaugaurated by Nobel Laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus.

NSU is the only private university in Bangladesh with great research facilities. The campus has state-of-the-art labs and research centers. NSU library facilities are extraordinary through which one can search for research materials from all over the world. It has joint collboration with many reputable foreign institutions for research and development. NSU is working on getting endowment funds for future research opportunities. It has research collaboration and exchange programs with many foriegn universities such as University of Manitoba, Canada, Bloomberg University, USA, Coventry University, UK, University of Bergen, Norway, Solbridge School of Business, Korea, Tribhuban University, Nepal, Younan University China. It has ongoing research colaboration with CIDA, UNDP, IFC-World Bank, INSPIRE- British Council, UK, ICCDRB and UGC, Bangladesh.

Every single student at NSU is entitled to credit transfer to peer universities worldwide. It has MOU with many foreign institutions and they fully honor NSU credits. Students often receive scholarships from overseas universities. Often international university representatives visit NSU campus to explore possibilities for collaboration. Our students are also eligible for certain scholarship and financial aid based on their need and academic performance. Until now, NSU has given more than 20 crore taka to its students in the form of financial aid. It also offers research/teaching assistantships, student workers, and work studies position to its students to support their tuition in the campus. A BBA degree from NSU will open up a vista of endless opportunities for a student. Our graduates are working in many Fortune 500 firms all over the world. Reputable Bangladeshi firms in telecom, finance and banking sectors and in international organizations highly regard our graduates. Our Department of Career & Professional Development Services (CPDS) is the national icon for career counseling. No educational institution in Bangladesh can match CPDS in terms of student placement and career development. In addition to counseling, CPDS hosts major job fairs for graduates from all over the country. NSU has a centralized place for students to explore their professional needs as it always encourages students to become actively involved in their own professional development. It offers a wide variety of services like career counseling, resume writing, and interviewing practice. It organizes seminars, workshops, symposiums, training programs and activities related to career and professional development for students. It offers career counseling to assist its students and alumni in developing educational and career goals; choosing majors; preparing for admission to higher educational institutes abroad; finding part-time, summer, co-op, internship, and career positions and meeting with the corporate sectors to learn more about the openings and their needs. One-on-one consultations by CPDS to NSU graduates enabling them to gain proper conception about career paths focus on areas of strength. When an institution is motivated solely by profit and has a money making proposition its standard tends to go down. This is true for many private universities in Bangladesh. We expect Bangladesh Governemnt agencies such as Ministry of Education and UGC to take proper action for bringing quality to our education system. Due to the effect of globalization and free market economy, the BBA degree is highly regarded among global corporations and Bangladesh is no exception. I would say that in Bangladesh the market is not over-saturated with BBA graduates but oversaturated with low quality degree holders. As I have mentioned earlier, the profit motivation of academic institutuions needs to be investigated by authorities. Last year, eighty seven percent of NSU BBA students got jobs before their graduation. I think, in Bangladesh we have plenty of opportunites for right BBA gradautes like those from NSU. There are opportunities within the local and multinational companies in Bangladesh. Some local companies have often failed to disseminate information to the students of our country. As a result, they have failed to attract young talented fresh gradautes. In our country local companies are not the high priority for job seekers. Career seekers are often interested in joining the multinationals such as BAT, SCB, Unilever, Nestle, Erricson, etc. However, some local

organizations like Beximco, Rahimafrooz, ACI etc. have now become the brand names for career seekers. Contrary to the popular belief, NSU actually charges very low tuition fee for the service it actually provides. Quality education does not come in cheap price or free. NSU is well known for providing high quality education and best resources for its students. It is worth mentioning that till date NSU has given around twenty crore taka worth of merit scholarship and financial aid. In the current semester, we have given merit scholarships in the form of financial aid to 673 students. We have to agree on one point that education is not free anywhere in the world no matter whether it is a public or private university. In the public university case, it is the country or state that covers all the cost. NSU BBA program is already very productive and job-oriented. We work hard everyday to improve our program. In general, my suggestion is that BBA programs should focus more on real life experiences than textbooks. The business world is continuously evolving and real life scenarios will enable a student to better cope with their career challenges. I would like to see the classroom teaching method change both in public and private universities of our country. Teaching should be more interactive and participation oriented, and case-based learning method should be used. There will always be some need for BBA graduates, as long as free market economy exists and that is true for Bangladesh, too. The major challenge for Bangladesh is generating high quality BBA graduates. If the current situation continues, the future is grim. But as an optimist in a passimistic society, I hope that our private institutions will follow the NSU example and focus on quality education. Md. Humayun Professor Department East West University Kabir & of Business Chowdhury, Ph.D Chairperson Administration

East West University (EWU) started its BBA Program back in September, 1996, and so far1972 students have graduated. We look for good academic performance of the applicants in both SSC and HSC examinations. In the written test we administer for admission at EWU, we attempt to evaluate the numerical and language abilities of the candidates. As the medium of instruction at EWU is English, we emphasize English language proficiency. Compared to the number of students who apply for admission to EWU, we enroll a small fraction (the ratio is often 1:5). We do not make compromise with our standards. The admission test we administer is of acceptable high standard that follows western systems and is very fairly conducted. We ensure quality of learning by following a number of steps. These are: i) Meticulously following a syllabus that matches up with North American business studies curricula. ii) Employing faculty members who have brilliant academic and research background. iii)Enrolling students through a rigorous admission process.

iv) Providing modern logistics/teaching aids and building an environment of learning At EWU, we have a competent faculty. At present we have 38 full-time faculty and 14 adjunct faculty members. We have 18 Student Activity Clubs, who keep the students engaged in various social, cultural and academic events round the year. EWU encourages research by faculty and students alike. There are separate funds for research. In fact, according to a survey conducted by a third organization, EWU became the number one university among all private universities in Bangladesh in terms of the number of research publications of its faculty members. EWU students can transfer their credit, if they wish so. Credit transfer is usually done on an individual basis and never at a group or institutional level. It depends on a specific student's eligibility for admission and academic achievements. As we follow the North American curricula, in general, our syllabi match those of foreign institutions. Students with high grade (A/A+) normally get those courses' credits transferred and exempted. EWU provides both merit-based and need-based scholarships both to meritorious and needy students. In the year 2009 alone, EWU provided BDT 2.8954 crore's worth of scholarships for meritorious and needy students. In general EWU distributes 9% of its total earnings as scholarships. In fact, we can boast that EWU provides the highest amount of scholarship to its students. Employers of business organizations, both local and foreign, particularly MNCs and International organizations, not only look for but also prefer BBA and MBA graduates for job. As they major in various streams they get jobs in various areas of organizations like marketing, sales, finance, HR, accounting, MIS etc. EWU has a separate Career Counseling Centre (CCC) dedicated to job placements of our graduates and would-be-graduates. CCC organizes workshops and seminars for preparing our students for the job market. At the same time it communicates with the market and makes arrangements for intervie ws and other recruitment processes for prospective employers to facilitate selection of our graduates. Universities, all over the world widely vary in their academic standards and excellence. In North America, they do not count the degree, because the degree by name is the same everywhere; rather they count the institution, because the institution would tell the value of that degree. The same is true in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is a country where the unemployment rate is high. It is true for all professions and qualifications; BBA cannot be an exception. However, the demand for business graduates is much higher than many other qualifications. Business graduates also find jobs early and in greater numbers. The demand for BBA graduates from reputed universities, where EWU belongs, is quite satisfactory. There has been commercialization medicine or engineering. of BBA to certain extent, like other fields of studies, e.g.,

Although EWU is a leading university in the private sector its tuition fees are one of the lowest. Moreover, we offer large amounts of scholarship to our students. We know that the price of a product, in free market economy, is determined by the force of demand and supply. It is they who pay the price that can tell better whether the education imparted by the private universities is worth the expenses or not. BBA and MBA are professional qualifications for grooming future managers. Hence a blend of theory and practice is sought. Industry experts can be invited to deliver lectures and share their experience with students. Similarly academicians should visit industry to gain practical knowledge. There should be a bridge between the academic world and the professional world. The curricula should reflect the ongoing changes in business, economy and technology and teachers should carry latest research findings to their classes. The future of BBA in Bangladesh is bright. We believe Bangladesh economy will expand and BBA graduates will find jobs in an expanding economy. They would find jobs not only inside the country but also abroad. We truly believe those days are not far when our BBA graduates will be demanded in Europe, Africa and affluent countries of Asia, if we can maintain the quality. Sanaul Director BRAC Business School Mostafa, PhD

BRACU started its BBA programme in 2001. About 600 students have graduated so far. The students who succeed in getting admission normally demonstrate their proficiency in logical reasoning, mathematics and English language. In addition, we favour students who have a positive attitude towards serving the society and nation. So far, we have been selective taking only a fraction of the applicants. We believe that faculty, pedagogy, classroom, audio-visual systems, IT facilities, assessment system, and a positive and value-based approach determine the quality of learning. We afford the best faculty available and possess all the mentioned systems to ensure quality learning. So far as our knowledge goes, we have the best teacher/students and students/computer ratio in Bangladesh. We normally take comprehensive exams. We are close to an international standard of maintaining a healthy ratio of full-time versus part-time professional faculty. Our students actively participate in club-programmes related to culture, social welfare and community services, entrepreneurial aspects of business, heritage, sports science etc. Some clubs have even got prizes nationally and regionally. There are a total of 30 student clubs and forums at the BRAC University. The co-curricular arena of the university is quite vibrant and studentoriented. Although BBA students have limited scope for research, they are encouraged to do some research-based activities within the scope of internship and course work. The teachers are

involved in various research groups and are publishing academic papers in different journals published in Bangladesh and abroad. Both students and teachers have the opportunity to access research fund of the university if their research paper has been accepted by a foreign agency. BRACU has its own journal for publication of research findings. Students who come to BRACU from other reputed universities may apply for a waiver or credit transfer. BRAC graduates who apply for higher education are successfully participating in Master's Programme abroad. We are working towards international accreditation in near future. The students apply for different scholarships. We have both merit and need-based scholarships sponsored by local and foreign agencies. About 15% of BRAC university students get scholarships. BRAC's graduates are normally placed in reputed organizations. The Career Services section provides guidance and works together with reputed companies to organize road shows/job fairs. Students also learn how to face interviews and apply for jobs before they complete their academic programme. BRACU is serious about quality. We set learning goals in terms of knowledge and skill development of students for each and every course and strictly follow up the achievement periodically. BRAC Business School is in the process of defining a quality assurance policy and preparing itself for international accreditation. Our graduates are seldom unemployed. We do believe that a growing economy like that of Bangladesh needs more quality graduates. Our new focus is to create more entrepreneurs in the society. We see our graduates as future entrepreneurs and NOT only as job seekers. As regards tuition fees, the main thing is the value for money. The students we serve would have spent a huge amount of money abroad to enjoy the same quality of education. If all costs are properly calculated, the government pays a lot for every student of public universities. As mentioned earlier, we offer the best teacher/student and computer/student ratio and highly interactive teaching environment. A survey among parents of admission seekers shows that the parents want to get their students admitted due to good quality education of BRACU. BRACU believes that the business education should be more contextual and skill-based. Only then can the students contribute effectively. The future of quality BBA programme will remain good because the society will always need decision-makers, innovators, risk-takers, and communicators. Our BBA graduates exactly deliver that. Dr. Nadim Jahangir Professor & Director School of Business Independent University, Bangladesh The BBA Program of Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) started in 1993. So far the number of students who have graduated stands at 3067.

At the time of admission the qualities which are emphasized are pre-university results. For SSC and HSC the GPA requirement is at least 3.00 and for Ordinary Level a minimum of five courses is required with a GPA of at least 2.50. For Advanced Level a minimum of two courses is required with a GPA of at least 2.00. In my opinion IUB is the only university which does not focus on numbers and has no intention of growing with an enrollment of 8000 to 10000 students like most other universities. We believe in maintaining a low student faculty ratio so that we can ensure quality faculties for the students, hence we take in around 4000 to 5000 students. Students are exposed to case studies, presentations etc. which teach them the skills that are required in the practical field. The case studies are based on current examples so that they are in tune with what is happening both in terms of the local as well as the global arena. Periodically we bring in guest lecturers from the corporate world who part with their valuable experience. Also, we have seminars on a regular basis where they not only meet the doyens of the business and academic world but simultaneously they get to increase their knowledge and network. We are very proud of our faculty. All of them have their degrees from abroad (which is mandatory for the School of Business in IUB). Besides, they have to bring out publications at frequent intervals. If a faculty wants to climb the ladder above the Lecturer level a Ph.D. degree is a necessity. The following are the co-curricular activities: Live-in-Field Experience (LFE): This is IUB's pioneering programme where IUB students get a distinctive opportunity to learn about rural life. This is a four credit course which is mandatory for all students. A student is eligible for doing LFE after completion of 70 credits. Internship: The Internship/Senior Project carries six credits. Its objective is to provide students an opportunity to get acquainted with the workplace environment. Factory visit: This enables the students to gain first hand experience about the real world. We have various extra-curricular activities as well. They are: Clubs: Students have unlimited opportunities to enhance their skills. They can join any club to showcase their forte. There is the Art Club, Debating Club, Photography Club, Business Students' Society, AIESEC etc. Seminars: Seminars take place at regular intervals. Students gain a lot by attending these seminars and listening to the wise words of the speakers. Workshops: These too are a regular feature over here. Sports: There are tournaments throughout the year. There is active participation on the part of the students in these. For the library we subscribe to both local and international journals. There are altogether 26,000 books in the library. IUB spends a substantial amount of money subscribing to e-journals. Both the faculties as well as students have access to Emerald, ProQuest, & JSTOR. IUB spends approximately US$ 30,000.00 yearly on e-journal subscription.

Our students are entitled to credit transfer. They are done on the basis of course matching. There are two types of scholarships. One is based on merit and the other is known as Financial Aid. Merit based: Students are eligible for obtaining scholarship anywhere between 10 % and 100 % based on current academic performance and pre-university GPA. Financial aid: Students are eligible for 50 % tuition discount provided they have siblings and/or spouse studying simultaneously in the IUB programme. IUB students are employed both in local as well as multinational organizations such as Citi Bank NA, Nestle, Standard Chartered Bank, Warid Telecom, GrameenPhone, City Cell, Beximco, BATB, Bank Asia, etc. The Career Guidance and Placement Centre offers career advisory services and organizes job fairs for the students. Students are encouraged to discuss ideas with their academic and career counselor to focus on the future career options and job placement. The student counselor is there to counsel the student on diverse issues. Previously a couple of job fairs were held, which were for IUB students only. But, in December of 2010 after we move to the new campus in Bashundhara we intend to hold a national job fair for all the students of the country. To ensure the quality of the private universities, parents, the public, and the media need to play a role. Prior to selecting a university it is important to browse their website, collect their brochure, and visit their campus to find out about the faculties teaching at that university, the students studying there, and the quality of the library. Once these are ensured then and only then students should be sent to universities which meet these criteria. In this manner the good universities will remain and the others will disappear. Therefore, the public must shoulder the responsibility. If you observe carefully, the graduates who are unemployed are of below standard. The better students are absorbed by the market. It is a globalized world. Graduates are not only being produced for the local market but also for the world at large. In Bangladesh the government does not provide any fund to the private universities. Though private universities fall under the University Grants Commission (UGC), the UGC only controls the private universities. It does not provide any funds to them. Moreover, the government is considering imposition of taxes on private universities. Tell me, how do you think we will survive? In order to make BBA education more productive and job-oriented we should ensure that courses are offered by quality faculties preferably by faculties who have North American or equivalent degrees. Courses should be offered by PH.D. degree holders. We should subscribe to a number of journals for the library. The course curriculum needs to be designed as per the market. The gap between theory and practice must be bridged, which can be done by bringing in guest lecturers from the corporate houses. Also, the corporate houses must inform the universities what their requirement is. Finally, education needs to be liberal arts based i.e. in the 1st year students irrespective of their major must study English, Bengali, Mathematics, Physics,

Chemistry, & History in order to have a solid foundation to move forward for studying a particular discipline. The only way of moving this country from a developing to a developed nation is by enhancing our business activities. Therefore, to support the industries business graduates are required in ever increasing numbers. I am of the belief that private universities are doing a great job in this regard. And they deserve to be given due credit for their role. .

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