Managerialism in Bangladeshi public universities: A perspective from the global South
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Tuesday
July 05, 2022

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
TUESDAY, JULY 05, 2022
Managerialism in Bangladeshi public universities: A perspective from the global South

Thoughts

Kazi Ashraf Uddin
19 May, 2022, 11:00 am
Last modified: 19 May, 2022, 11:50 am

Related News

  • 35 hours a week active teaching for public university teachers on cards
  • The four secrets of how to be a bad boss
  • Shifting mining from the global south misses the point of climate justice
  • Why ownership and control should be separated in a company
  • The BBC is dead, long live the BBC

Managerialism in Bangladeshi public universities: A perspective from the global South

Mismanagement, corruption and intra-institutional breaches are compromising the public academic spheres of Bangladesh

Kazi Ashraf Uddin
19 May, 2022, 11:00 am
Last modified: 19 May, 2022, 11:50 am
Illustration: TBS
Illustration: TBS

Recently, a renowned Bangladeshi daily published an article by Thomas Kilkauer and Meg Young entitled "Academentia and Managerialism" (15 May 2022), an article that fleshes out the academic decadence in the backdrop of the rise of neo-liberal ideologies across the academic institutions mainly in the global North. 

The authors of this article pointed at the academic degeneration caused due to ever-increasing peer and institutional pressure that the academics are facing. Such academic stresses include the challenge of publication and an emphasis on quantity over quality. 

The mirage of tenured position (to put it simply, permanent position in academia) and the competitive hurdles to get published in the Q1 journals or to perish are haunting the academics, a stress that affects mental health, personal life and sometimes leads to different physical challenges.

However, while Kilkauer and Young's article resonates the concerns of the critical pedagogues like Henry Giroux, bell hooks, Gayatri Spivak or more recently Raewyn Connell, situating these concerns in the global South does not necessarily expose the same scenario. 

Yes, I am referring to Bangladeshi academia, i.e., Bangladeshi tertiary education. While the academics of the northern universities are struggling in the race for publication, ranking, tenure track etc (let's put aside the politics of ranking and polemic criteria for impact factor), to be permanent (tenured) and to be promoted (tenure-tracked) requires a minimal effort in most of the Bangladeshi public universities. 

Despite controversies on the ranking system, there are rarely any Bangladeshi universities within the top 1000 universities of the world. To talk about the promotion criterion in most public universities, one publication without much concern to its quality and the format of the publication platform can promote you from a Lecturer to Assistant Professor and then three publications (again without much quality check) to Associate Professor and finally 5 publications to the highest position of the Professor. 

Due to lack of accountability and rigorous ethical regulations, sometimes, the criteria for professorship or other ranks can also be compromised. A faculty without PhD and enough research expertise can also supervise doctoral students. The probationary period and confirmation of the rank are often ticked without much effort. So, neither quantity nor quality (determined by criteria like impact factor, Scopus indexed journal or citation database) are necessarily tangible obstacles to promotion.

However, this does not imply a general lack of quality and achievement among the academics working in Bangladeshi academia, but hints at the systemic lack of accountability and monitoring/mentoring/managing of the academic organograms.    

The severe lack of accountability, flexible conditions applied to promotions, almost arbitrary leave-taking criteria, and an absence of academic ethics in the Bangladeshi public universities lead to 'session jam' that victimises the students (an alien term in the dictionary of the global North academia).

Exploitation of academic labour, loss of government funds, degradation of scholarly outcome entail the production of a generation of unemployable and unemployed learners. 

When individual duty, responsibility and accountability are not monitored and ensured, it creates an arbitration in individual behaviour, be it among the academic faculties or academic staff or the students.  

Managerialism is a mode of outsourcing professional managers for organisational management and ideological reinforcement which has been criticised as a neo-liberal tool for establishing tight management and professional hierarchy. 

Kilkauer and Young's article validly expressed concern for the corporatisation of education through a mechanical engineering of command and control, a spirit that stands in dissonance with academia. 

Looking from another perspective, managerialism can also be necessitated by the very absence of accountability and arbitration. In Bangladesh, some private universities already adopted this model in their recruitment of the members of Human Resources (HR) and academic administration. 

Some public institutes including reputed medical colleges already appointed Military officers (both serving and retired) and former bureaucrats in different leadership positions. And the recent surge of PhD candidates from the Military, the Police and the bureaucratic services is also creating a ground for managerialist logic. 

When questioned about the appointment of non-academic personnel in the top positions of academic administration, a very common yet valid logic of mismanagement, corruption and poor administration of the academic institutes comes to the fore. 

Therefore, while the critics of neo-liberal economy laments for its managerial and corporatist influence on the education sector, in Bangladeshi public academia, the lack of proper management and implementation of the regulations charted out in its ordinance might establish the alternative logic of hiring managerial bodies.  

While we can criticise the appointment of Research Assistantship and Teaching Assistantship as a mode of exploitation of 'cheap' academic labour (mainly the postgraduate researchers are appointed for teaching the undergrads as casual/underpaid academic) in the North American universities (read: the global North), exploitation of academic labour happens in many Bangladeshi public universities when an understaffed department runs its array of academic programmes with limited faculties. 

When a large academic unit like Department of English at Jahangirnagar University runs its academic programmes (including the higher degree programmes like PhD, MPhil) with merely ten over-burdened teaching faculties, it is an example of exploitation of academic labour. 

Such an academic labour crisis is caused mainly by the absence of some of its faculty members on unauthorised/without leaves and inconsistent recruitments — two issues that reflect regulatory mismanagement and the lack of a strong accountable administration. The students and therefore the nation is the worst victim of such managerial and administrative discrepancies. 

Collective frustration among the students is a very common consequence of such academic unruliness. And this is a moment when the state and its bureaucracy may find ample justification for replacing/changing the management order.

While managerialism as a neo-liberal logic is contested by the critical pedagogues of the global metropole, unfortunately in the Southern countries (especially, in Bangladesh) it may appear as an existentialist logic to save the universities from the plague of corruption and mismanagement resulting in a poor research and teaching outcome and on the other, to extend the government's regulatory and ideological reach on the universities.

In her book "The Good University", Raewyn Connell is critical about the exploitation of university workers and the growing power of university managers reflected in many Western universities. 

To put this in Bangladeshi context, while we raise questions about the insufficiency of the salary scale and other economic benefits (a government-directed criticism), an imbalanced distribution of workload on individual academics engenders intra-institutional form of exploitation at our universities. 

For instance, when a colleague enjoys eight years' leave in their 11 years' job duration and still retains their appointment, their co-workers have to bear the burden of course load and other academic/semi-academic responsibilities, which often creates acute structural and managerial anomalies in the implementation of the curriculum. 

Or to further exemplify, when, after enjoying 8 years' leave (of which five years are with pay), an academic immediately quits the job to jump on to another academic position with better package and exposure, this is a case of intra-institutional academic and financial manipulation (financial because in most cases the outstanding dues are not paid back to the institutions they left). 

In 2007, the Daily Star published a report saying that a number of Dhaka University teachers who left for higher studies owe 18 million taka to the university (Nov 14).  And needless to say, such discrepancy does injustice to the fellow university workers and establishes a negative reputation of the university and overall, public education system in Bangladesh.                                
Though there are airy provisions like "Accountability to the conscience" in some Bangladeshi public university acts, there are also enough clauses to ensure the economy of knowledge through teaching and research. Hence, while we criticise the growing corporatisation and privatisation of the education system, it is also vital to pay attention to the intra-institutional grievances regarding management and accountability. 

There is a dimensional distinction between corporate industry and university as the production ground for knowledge. While we denounce the academic exploitation and state hegemony of educational institutions, we should also be vigilant about the issues of ethics, equity, and wellbeing in the education system. Intra-institutional breach of ethical and professional codes only weakens the moral ground and defence of a university as a democratic public sphere. 

Kazi Ashraf Uddin. Sketch: TBS
Kazi Ashraf Uddin. Sketch: TBS

Kazi Ashraf Uddin is a PhD scholar at UNSW Sydney.


Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.

Top News

Management / Global South / public universities

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Padma Bridge opens up investment spree in south
    Padma Bridge opens up investment spree in south
  • BB slaps 100% LC margin to discourage imports of cars, electronics among other items 
    BB slaps 100% LC margin to discourage imports of cars, electronics among other items 
  • Several law enforcement departments monitor the scene of a mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade route in the wealthy Chicago suburb of Highland Park, Illinois, US July 4, 2022. REUTERS/Max Herman
    Suspect captured in shooting at 4 July parade in Chicago's Highland Park suburb

MOST VIEWED

  • Michael Spence. Sketch: TBS
    The supply-side fight against inflation
  • Nuzhat Hayat. Sketch: TBS
    Harnessing the power of technology toward a digital age
  • The Universal Pension Scheme is a laudable  initiative. But is it feasible?
    The Universal Pension Scheme is a laudable initiative. But is it feasible?
  •  Consumers make decisions about which items to put into their shopping baskets in a matter of seconds. And those decisions have implications for the environment. PHOTO: REUTERS
    Climate change: Do we have to rethink what we eat?
  • Sketch: TBS
    Remembering Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury : Freedom fighter and politician extraordinaire
  • Md Kafi Khan. Illustration: TBS
    How best to launch a digital banking scheme

Related News

  • 35 hours a week active teaching for public university teachers on cards
  • The four secrets of how to be a bad boss
  • Shifting mining from the global south misses the point of climate justice
  • Why ownership and control should be separated in a company
  • The BBC is dead, long live the BBC

Features

Last month Swapan Kumar Biswas, the acting principal of Mirzapur United College, was forced to wear a garland of shoes for ‘hurting religious sentiments.’ Photo: Collected

Where do teachers rank in our society?

22h | Panorama
Japanese Ambassador Naoki Ito. Sketch: TBS

'The game-changing projects are in line with the Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt initiative'

1d | Panorama
A Glittery Eid

A Glittery Eid

1d | Mode
Rise’s target customers are people who crave to express themselves through what they wear, and their clothing line is not relegated to any age range.

Level up your Eid game with Rise

1d | Mode

More Videos from TBS

Realme Narzo 50A Prime available now

Realme Narzo 50A Prime available now

12h | Videos
Export products to get diversified

Export products to get diversified

14h | Videos
Horrible routes of human trafficking

Horrible routes of human trafficking

14h | Videos
Why Mbappe cheated Real Madrid

Why Mbappe cheated Real Madrid

15h | Videos

Most Read

1
TBS Illustration
Education

Universities may launch online classes again after Eid

2
Meet the man behind 'Azke amar mon balo nei'
Splash

Meet the man behind 'Azke amar mon balo nei'

3
Padma Bridge from satellite. Photo: Screengrab
Bangladesh

Padma Bridge from satellite 

4
World Bank to give Bangladesh $18b IDA loans in next five years
Economy

World Bank to give Bangladesh $18b IDA loans in next five years

5
Illustration: TBS
Interviews

‘No Bangladeshi company has the business model for exporting agricultural product’

6
Lee Hyun-seung (third from right), head of Korea Expressway Corp.'s Overseas Project Division, shakes hands with Quazi Muhammad Ferdous, head of the Bridge Authority of Bangladesh, after signing a contract on June 29 (local time).
Bangladesh

Korean company to oversee N8 Expressway in Bangladesh

EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2022
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab
BENEATH THE SURFACE
Workers ready a passenger vessel with a fresh coat of paint to the deck ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha at a dockyard at Mirerbagh in South Keraniganj. The vessel getting the makeover plies the Bhandaria route and will take holidaying people from the city to their country homes. Eid will be celebrated on 10 June this year. The photo was taken on Monday. Photo: Mumit M

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net