Still preferring arts education, grads to be unprepared for 4IR

Infographic: TBS

At a time when students are required to push the boundaries and get ready to face challenges in the upcoming fourth industrial revolution (4IR), most students at the undergraduate level still stick to enrolments in arts subjects. 

The revolution will disrupt higher education, technologies, such as robots, virtual reality and Internet of things, will take over every human activity, thus leading to automation and subsequent joblessness.

According to the 47th annual report of the University Grants Commission (UGC), the country's lone higher education regulatory body, only 11% students at all higher educational institutions have enrolled in science and technology disciplines, while the enrolment numbers in arts, social sciences, business studies and others, which will have a little influence in availing jobs in the 4IR, stand at 89%.

The poor rate of undergraduate students choosing science, technological and technical subjects has been continuing for quite a long time as it was 11% in 2019 and 2020, 12% in 2016 and 2017 and 11% in 2015.

The government has put emphasis on science and technical education for a long time, but there is no implication in this regard.

Education Minister Dipu Moni said, "A large number of students are achieving honours and master's degrees from our education system, but is there a demand for such numbers in the job market? Now, we need to reconsider it," 

The government no longer wants to create such an educated unemployed workforce.

"We are now in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. We could not take advantage of the previous three industrial revolutions. We want to maximise this time," she added. 

According to Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics, 28% students passed HSC exams from the science stream in 1990. The rate remained unchanged in 2021.  

Educationists say technical and vocational education and training is widely recognised as a vital driving force for socio-economic growth and technical development of a nation.

To ensure the quality of technical and vocational education and training, a country first needs to ensure continued and improved training in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics subjects as well as investment in information and communication technologies.

The educationists said the overall curriculum of all the universities must be reformed and a plan must be chalked up to prepare graduates for private sector jobs. Otherwise, it will be tough to sustain the country's economic growth as a good number of graduates will remain jobless in the fourth industrial revolution.

AKMA Hamid, president of Institute of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh, told TBS that for a global competitiveness and job sustainability, major graduates should have 21st-century skills as well as the ability to adopt and adapt to the disruption in the fourth industrial revolution. Without this ability in the near future, no one will get a job or sustain on the job market for a longer period.

"Technical and science based institutions must be of international standards because poor quality in technical and vocational education and training can lead us to produce poor products and services. We cannot face the 4IR with such a kind of substandard manpower with traditional knowledge," he said. 

MM Shahidul Hassan, vice-chancellor of East West University, told TBS that the country's universities have apparently failed to produce quality graduates and they cannot claim to have produced graduates with the skills required for a competitive labour market.

It is high time to produce quality graduates with high-level skills to check foreign nationals and to save huge foreign currencies, he said. 

"The 4th industrial revolution needs the manpower skills of critical thinking, complex problem solving, innovation, collaboration and communication, entrepreneurial thinking, and lifelong learning. Universities must produce such graduates by overhauling the traditional education system and adopting teaching and learning and assessment methods," he added. 

The World Economic Forum 2018 report said about 65% of children entering primary schools today will find jobs that do not exist yet. To succeed in this type of unpredictable labour market, graduates must be lifelong learners, have consistent adaptation, and are willing to go across the industry. 

A survey conducted by Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies in 2021 said 66% of national university graduates have remained unemployed.

The quality of education at colleges under National University is substandard. It is necessary to make students skilled in IT to prepare them for the modern age. Investment in these colleges needs to be increased, it said.

Another BIDS report 2020 said most students from both public and private universities are graduating with poor job-related and other basic knowledge, disqualifying them from the country's job market.

According to a study by the BIDS, the unemployment rate among university graduates in Bangladesh was 33.19% in 2019.

A World Bank report titled "Bangladesh Development Update October 2019: Tertiary Education and Job Skills" found that graduates struggle to find jobs, with more than one-third of them remaining unemployed for one or two years after graduation. 

In 2020, a report by the International Labour Organisation estimates that automation will replace the jobs of 137 million people in Southeast Asia within the next 20 years.

According to the latest data from the UGC, altogether 41 lakh students are studying in 50 public universities and 107 private universities of the country at graduation, post-graduation and diploma levels.

Among them, only 4.57 lakh have enrolled in science, technology, pharmacy, technical and agriculture subjects, while 17.45 lakh are in humanities, 10.44 lakh in social sciences, and 8.21 lakh in business studies.

The percentage of science, technology, pharmacy and agriculture students at private universities is higher than in public universities. But only a few of the private universities can ensure quality education.

Government's initiatives

The UGC has asked public and private universities to adopt the Outcome Based Education (OBE). But some universities, such Dhaka University and North South University, are already working on restructuring their traditional syllabi in line with the system.

In short, an OBE curriculum means starting with a clear picture of what is important for students, then organising the syllabus, instruction and assessment to ensure such learning.

National University is going to switch from its traditional curriculum to a "demand-based" one, with the goal to build skilled manpower, which will be a better fit for the job market.

The educational institution is also planning to introduce short courses and diplomas through its mainstream colleges to produce qualified human resources for all kinds of industries – including the ICT sector.

National University's Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Moshiur Rahman told TBS that they are trying to build the students for the fourth industrial revolution. But it will take time.

"We are going to expand this programme, and the curriculum will be reshuffled with the inclusion of ICT and other industry-related subjects. We are also working to introduce short courses and diplomas at our government colleges."

UGC Chairman Professor Kazi Shahidullah said, "We will ask all universities to reduce the number of seats in the unnecessary departments, and at the same time, we will support job-related departments."

Vice-Chancellor of Dhaka University Professor Akhtaruzzaman said, "The university administration is concentrating on ensuring quality education and producing skilled graduates."

North South University Vice-Chancellor Professor Atiqul Islam told TBS that they concentrate on building skilled and quality graduates to face the upcoming challenges.