UGC Consultation Meeting Held

The Strategic Planning Unit of University Grants Commission (UGC) of Bangladesh organized a Consultation Workshop entitled “Status of IQAC in the Private Universities: Ways to Step Forward” on 28 January and 3 February 2020. Among 105 universities, 45 attended on 30 January while the rest attended on 3 February. ULAB Vice Chancellor Prof. H M Jahirul Haque and Additional Director of IQAC Wazir Ahmad attended the workshop on 28 January. Prof. Muhammed Alamgir, UGC Member delivered the welcome remarks where Prof. Kazi Shahidullah, UGC Chairman was present as Chief Guest. Dr. Sultan Mahmud Bhuiyan,
UGC Director for Strategic Planning and Quality Assurance made a presentation on the role of UGC for the functioning of IQACs where he summarized Higher Education Quality Enhancement Project (HEQEP) activities. It was revealed that there are only 38 private universities left with functioning IQACs. The experience of North South University (NSU) and Independent University Bangladesh (IUB) regarding their respective IQACs were shared. Prof. Sanjoy Adhikary, Member of Bangladesh Accreditation Council (BAC) also made a short presentation.
The session was followed by an open discussion session which will be summarized by an expert panel of five members including Wazir Ahmad, Additional Director of ULAB IQAC. Points to take away are:

• The three things UGC will emphasize are:
  
  1. campus and facilities
  2. two semesters in a year system
  3. President appointed VC, PVC and Treasurer.
• Strategic Planning Unit is actively considering allowing PhD program for private universities.
• A format of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) curriculum will be circulated soon.
• UGC is going to design a mandatory training program for university teachers.
• Private universities need to be careful about the ‘pitfalls of accreditation.’