Why are Bangladeshi students leaving in record numbers

DhakaTribune
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Student exodus doubles in a decade
Mahadi Al HasnatPublished at 01:46 AM January 28, 2018Last updated at 01:48 AM January 28, 2018
Student exodus doubles in a decade

Why are Bangladeshi students leaving in record numbers?

Md Istiake Manik, 27, graduated from Jahangirnagar University in Archeology and left Bangladesh last year for a masters program at the National Museum of Natural History under Sorbonne University in Paris because there was no place for the type of scientific research he wanted to do.

“The laboratories are ill equipped and the quality of education very poor. Most people look down upon Archeology as a subject even though it is part of the core sciences. This is the difference between the higher education in Bangladesh and abroad,” Istiake added.

Every year the numbers of students’ leaving Bangladesh has been increasing drastically. From 2006, the number of foreign university-bound students has more than doubled to 33,139 in 2016.

A recent report by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) shows that every day 90 students leave Bangladesh to study abroad, most of whom stay back for a better life.

The former University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman Prof Nazrul Islam reiterated that the reason for this rise in students leaving the country might be because of a lack of technical capacity of universities in Bangladesh.

“We have a number of good universities in Bangladesh where seats and resources are limited. Many students leave the country because of a lack of opportunities here,” he said.

“For example, we have Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) that is a good institute for engineering but it lacks equipment and lab facilities which is why many students prefer foreign universities instead of Buet,” Prof Nazrul added.