Golam Mathbor, Ph.D., professor in the School of Social Work, was invited to write an article on the state of Bangladesh’s higher education as part of a four-volume, yearlong project spearheaded by the Global Studies and Governance program of Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB), and designed to celebrate the country’s 50-year anniversary. Mathbor’s piece, Shifting from Public to Private: Governance and Modernization of Bangladesh’s Higher Education in the Changing Environment, was published as part of Volume 3 on Dec. 16 (Victory Day of Bangladesh).
“I am honored being invited and included in a national-level historical project that focused on ‘how the past 50 years will influence the next 50 years,’” said Mathbor. “Bangladesh is at a crossroad, shifting from public to private in terms of higher education. This article provides an overview of strategic management and effective leadership in higher education and examines major challenges to higher education in Bangladesh based on my prolonged engagement and sustained interaction with various stakeholders.”
In the article, Mathbor recommends best practice strategies in four distinct areas for quality higher education: “being globally competitive, professional development, effective management, and shared success.”
Other volumes of the project cover topics of economy, foreign policy, and social face of Bangladesh, with articles from distinguished professionals and newsmakers who saw, participated in, contributed to, or narrated about that particular topic.
Imtiaz Hossain, Ph.D., chair of the souvenir committee and head of the Global Studies and Governance program at IUB, noted in his invitation to Mathbor that, “we approach you because you and your institute have been involved in and contributed significantly to one or more of the [featured topics]. To have you participate would be an honor to us, a permanent testimony to future generations.”