Some Aspects of Institutional Governance of Higher Educational Institutions in Bangladesh

What is it about?

Public and Private universities of Bangladesh are in dilemma between institutional autonomy and government accountability. These institutions are given full autonomy as per university ordinance to operate independently and they are held responsible for contributing to the development of the society at large. Therefore, universities in Bangladesh face continuous pressures from the government to manage their activities whereas it has got full liberty to act on their own.

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Why is it important?

Governance of higher educational institutions is a challenge of the government of a developing country like Bangladesh. In one end, these organizations have limitless autonomy and in other end, they have accountability to the public and the society as well. These institutions often behave like a disorderly sector due to the legal autonomy. Public and Private universities of Bangladesh are also in dilemma between institutional autonomy and government accountability. These institutions are given full autonomy as per university ordinance to operate independently and they are held responsible for contributing to the development of the society at large. Therefore, universities in Bangladesh face continuous pressures from the government to manage their activities whereas it has got full liberty to act on their own. These two extreme sides of the continuum often mystify the management of higher educational institutions and emanate continuous tension to exert balance between this two. Although, the regulatory bodies such as, Ministry of Education (MOE), University Grants Commission (UGC) and Accreditation Council (recently approved) aid to make the university accountable to the society that also impedes the freedom of regulating its own affairs. This mystery is prolonged when the performance-based accountability is incorporated to divert the existing forms of regulations. This new dimension of accountability emphasizes tangible performance rather than resource inputs, administrative processes, and fiscal audits that are demanded by the stakeholders.

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