teachers’ recruitment in public varsities

Govt mulls guidelines

To ensure quality education at the tertiary level, the government will, for the first time, introduce a set of unique guidelines for teachers’ recruitment in all public universities. According to sources in the University Grants Commission (UGC), the government has found that there is no unique set of guidelines for the recruitment of teachers in public universities across the country. As a result, the standard of education is not the same across different universities and there are disparities among the students who obtain degrees from different universities, the sources said. Earlier, the UGC had prepared a draft set of guidelines on the recruitment of teachers in the public universities. The education ministry approved it on December 17, 2002. However, no university has followed the guidelines properly.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina held several meetings recently with the UGC chairman, PM’s principal secretary and other senior officials. At the meetings, the formulation of an integrated set of guidelines for the recruitment, promotion and posting of the teachers of public universities was prioritised.
The PM later issued directives for the formulation of teachers’ recruitment guidelines, the UGC sources said.
Following the PM’s directives, the UGC formed a six-member committee headed by UGC member Prof. Dr Mohammad Yousuf Ali Mollah.
The high-powered committee then formulated a draft set of guidelines after obtaining the opinions and policies of different public universities. The committee also held several meetings with the leaders of the university federation and the teachers’ federation to finalise the guidelines.
Prof. Dr Mollah told The Independent yesterday that the federation leaders of different universities and leaders of various teachers’ associations had unanimously approved the draft guidelines except for some minor changes.
“We held a meeting on Wednesday. All the stakeholders of the universities have agreed on the draft guidelines prepared by the UGC. It will be finalised within a week by the commission,” he added.
“As the commission is mandated to finalise it, the set of guidelines would be finalised within a week. Then it would be sent to the Prime Minister and the education minister,” he said. Asked whether the public universities would accept it, he said, “Although we formulated such a set of guidelines earlier, it was not followed. We hope every university will follow it now as everybody has agreed.”
UGC chairman Prof. Abdul Mannan has said that the recruitment of teachers through a proper process is necessary to ensure quality education in the public universities in the country. The country’s socio-economic development depends largely on the enhancement of education at the tertiary level, he added.
“We don’t have any integrated set of guidelines for teachers’ recruitment. It has not been possible due to various obstacles as the universities are autonomous bodies. This time the teachers’ leaders have agreed to follow it,” the chairman said.
“A unique set of guidelines is very important for teachers’ recruitment in different universities. It would remove discriminations in getting quality education at the tertiary level,” he observed.
Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers’ Association (FBUTA) president Prof. Farid Uddin told The Independent that they have agreed to the UGC guidelines for teachers’ recruitment.
“We think that as all the public university teachers have the same salary structure in accordance with their posts, there should have a unique set of guidelines for teachers’ recruitment. All the teachers’ representatives have extended their support to the UGC,” he added.
“We hope every university will follow the guidelines. These guidelines will also preclude recruitment of teachers in any random or arbitrary manner. The process will also help ensure quality education at the tertiary level,” he added. Under the guidelines, the departments under various faculties have been segmented into four groups for the recruitment of lecturers, assistant professors, associate professors and professors. The departments under the science/social science/arts/business studies/fine arts/law faculties are in one group, the departments under engineering/architecture/city and town planners faculties are in another group, medicine in another group, and the departments of agriculture and agriculture faculties are in a different group. The guidelines for recruitment laid emphasis on academic results, PhD degrees and publication of journals. However, these guidelines would not be applicable to private universities or colleges under the National University.

teachers recruitment in public varsities

Govt mulls guidelines

To ensure quality education at the tertiary level, the government will, for the first time, introduce a set of unique guidelines for teachers recruitment in all public universities. According to sources in the University Grants Commission (UGC), the government has found that there is no unique set of guidelines for the recruitment of teachers in public universities across the country. As a result, the standard of education is not the same across different universities and there are disparities among the students who obtain degrees from different universities, the sources said. Earlier, the UGC had prepared a draft set of guidelines on the recruitment of teachers in the public universities. The education ministry approved it on December 17, 2002. However, no university has followed the guidelines properly. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina held several meetings recently with the UGC chairman, PMs principal secretary and other senior officials. At the meetings, the formulation of an integrated set of guidelines for the recruitment, promotion and posting of the teachers of public universities was prioritised. The PM later issued directives for the formulation of teachers recruitment guidelines, the UGC sources said. Following the PMs directives, the UGC formed a six-member committee headed by UGC member Prof. Dr Mohammad Yousuf Ali Mollah. The high-powered committee then formulated a draft set of guidelines after obtaining the opinions and policies of different public universities. The committee also held several meetings with the leaders of the university federation and the teachers federation to finalise the guidelines. Prof. Dr Mollah told The Independent yesterday that the federation leaders of different universities and leaders of various teachers associations had unanimously approved the draft guidelines except for some minor changes. We held a meeting on Wednesday. All the stakeholders of the universities have agreed on the draft guidelines prepared by the UGC. It will be finalised within a week by the commission, he added. As the commission is mandated to finalise it, the set of guidelines would be finalised within a week. Then it would be sent to the Prime Minister and the education minister, he said. Asked whether the public universities would accept it, he said, Although we formulated such a set of guidelines earlier, it was not followed. We hope every university will follow it now as everybody has agreed. UGC chairman Prof. Abdul Mannan has said that the recruitment of teachers through a proper process is necessary to ensure quality education in the public universities in the country. The countrys socio-economic development depends largely on the enhancement of education at the tertiary level, he added. We dont have any integrated set of guidelines for teachers recruitment. It has not been possible due to various obstacles as the universities are autonomous bodies. This time the teachers leaders have agreed to follow it, the chairman said. A unique set of guidelines is very important for teachers recruitment in different universities. It would remove discriminations in getting quality education at the tertiary level, he observed. Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers Association (FBUTA) president Prof. Farid Uddin told The Independent that they have agreed to the UGC guidelines for teachers recruitment. We think that as all the public university teachers have the same salary structure in accordance with their posts, there should have a unique set of guidelines for teachers recruitment. All the teachers representatives have extended their support to the UGC, he added. We hope every university will follow the guidelines. These guidelines will also preclude recruitment of teachers in any random or arbitrary manner. The process will also help ensure quality education at the tertiary level, he added. Under the guidelines, the departments under various faculties have been segmented into four groups for the recruitment of lecturers, assistant professors, associate professors and professors. The departments under the science/social science/arts/business studies/fine arts/law faculties are in one group, the departments under engineering/architecture/city and town planners faculties are in another group, medicine in another group, and the departments of agriculture and agriculture faculties are in a different group. The guidelines for recruitment laid emphasis on academic results, PhD degrees and publication of journals. However, these guidelines would not be applicable to private universities or colleges under the National University.