Higher education in private universities in Bangladesh: A model for quality assurance

With the globalization pushed by a network of close communications, a new dynamic and global centric paradigm of education is also evolving. This paradigm is highly sensitive to the quality aspect of education as the stakeholders have a diversified demand from it to achieve. In Bangladesh, the failure of the public universities to meet the growing demand for higher education has led to the establishment of universities by the private bodies. Now about 60 percent of the total campus-based students have been studying in the private universities. Though the number of private universities has increased very rapidly, the quality aspect of their education has become a matter of important concern. This study identifies and examines some of the existing quality deficiencies of the private universities in Bangladesh. It then proposes a model that includes a number of important variables upon which a quality measurement scale could be developed to assess the level of quality of education in higher learning institutions, particularly the private universities in Bangladesh.