08-03-2019

EDITORIAL
FriDaY,
MarcH 8, 2019
4
Higher Education in Bangladesh needs
Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam
Telephone: +8802-9104683-84, Fax: 9127103
e-mail: editor@thebangladeshtoday.com
Friday, March 8, 2019
Ensuring progress
in health sector
The health sector of the country as it observed the
World Health Day sometime ago, presents a mixed
picture of significant progress, some unattained
objectives and cases of back sliding. The incumbent
government had promised a great deal in its previous
election manifesto and must be credited for having worked
considerably to keep its promises.
For example, it was stated in the election manifesto of the
Awami League five years ago that in order to expand and
strengthen health services at the grassroots level in the
country, some 18,000 community clinics would be
established at ward level under a new health policy. Some
10,000 of these community clinics have been set up
throughout the country. Some more of these clinics at
upazilla and union levels are being planned to be integrated
under the community clinic framework.
This could be accepted as a very laudable achievement but
for the fact that in most cases these clinics are not delivering
amply health services consistent with their potentials. A
dearth of doctors, nurses, technicians and medical
equipment are noted in these clinics in many cases. Thus,
the challenge remains to provision these clinics adequately
and run them efficiently. The issue of absentee doctors must
be addressed - specially-- through a proper accountability
procedure so that such doctors are only obligated to
discharge their duties with due sincerity at their due places
of posting.
Many doctors on the government's health services in
connivance with unscrupulous officials in the Health
Ministry are usually able to avoid serving in the rural areas.
Many of them remain in Dhaka month after month and
draw their salaries and other benefits without doing
adequate work at their properly designated places while the
health services in the rural areas suffer very seriously from
absence of doctors. Prime Minister (PM) Sheikh Hasina
warned such absentee doctors for their dereliction of duty
time and again.
However, like in all other cases of the taste of the pudding
coming from eating it, the tough words from the PM will
count for something only after the actual taking of the steps
that would be required to ensure that the doctors do
indeed feel obligated to serve in the rural areas. This is no
easy task for on the one hand there are involved problems of
psychology and character and, on the other, the doctors can
point to the disincentives that keep them away from rural
areas. The solution lies in psychologically curing the doctors
of their inordinate fascination for working in urban areas as
much as also providing them with further incentives, as far
as would be truly justified, to have peace of mind to serve
with dedication in the rural areas. But the greatest stress
will have to be put on strict enforcement of rules and
regulations to make it very difficult for them to go on so
unconscientiously avoiding their duties in rural areas.
The nation makes much sacrifice to produce a doctor with
highly subsidised medical education and then further pays
not unreasonably for his or her upkeep with salaries and
other facilities. In return, the nation should duly expect to
get his or her sincere service. If the same is not honestly
discharged, then the nation should have the right to apply
coercion so that the same is discharged.
The problems complained by the doctors may not be
ignored and steps may be taken to solve them . But the
imperative is keeping up consistent pressure on them as
per their service rules to do their bounden duties at their
work stations.
From 2009, government introduced the so called user fees
in the publicly run medical and health care system. Under
23 categories, user fees were introduced for 470 types of
services in the public hospitals. The public medical care
institutions were obliged, at least in theory, to extend free
medical services or at nominal costs till the introduction of
this fee.
But in the backdrop of such free and nominal payments
leading to poor or even no treatment of patients, it was
decided that users' fees would be applied to bring about
positive changes through users bearing a part of the real
costs of treatment. This would free the government
somewhat from paying huge subsidies ineffectively to the
medical sector while enabling better treatment with patients
bearing a part of their costs.
But the real experience after introduction of the users' fees
is that patients' treatment costs, on average, have increased
compared to the time when they were treated for free or at
nominal costs. Thus, it requires a rethink whether the user
fee system should be given up with restoration of the
previous system of free treatment or treatment at nominal
costs only.
If it is decided to go back to the older system, then it must
be ensured that the free system or nominal payment system
do not make the patients suffer like in the past due to
corruption and neglect. The challenge would be to make the
free or nominal payment system free from corruption and to
make it work ridding inefficiencies. Then, it could prove to
be a blessing.
A major health sector priority ought to be revamping the
family planning programme by bringing all or nearly all
fertile couples under it at the earliest. It is shocking that 45
per cent of potential couples from the standpoint of
procreation abilities, remain unserved by the family
planning programme. They are also bypassed by health and
nutrition programmes. This neglect must be overcome with
targeted policies. Time-bound targets must be pursued also
in the areas of sanitation and helping people to avoid
arsenic poisoning.
Meanwhile people, specially common people, are happy to
see that the big general public hospitals in the cities such as
the DhakaMedicalCollegeHospital, are running with some
efficiency and a sense of a duty of care compared to the past.
Let us hope that this trend would continue and be further
improved.
to prepare itself for a Vuca world
It would do well for us all to reflect
on the lives and prospects of the
children born in Bangladesh in
2019. What will the country be like by
the time they reach the age 18 and are
on the threshold of entering high
education? Certainly, many jobs that
exist now will have been made
obsolete by then due to increased
automation and the further
development in respect of the use of
Artificial Intelligence (AI). The world
will be ever more interconnected, and
the skillsets required for a future
world of work and leisure will be very
different. Whilst none of us can know
the precise nature of how things will
be in two decades time, we can
appreciate that certain changes and
trends that are already underway are
likely to continue. The big question
will be how prepared and agile is the
education sector, especially the
higher education sector, to rise to and
meet the challenges and
opportunities that the short to
medium term future will bring?
Continued population growth means
that demand for higher education, both
public and private, is projected to
increase year on year. On the current
rate of growth Bangladesh is set to have
a population of 194.5 million by 2037
(Source: www.populationpyramid.net/
bangladesh/2037/). Such growth will
impact on all aspects of education and
require considerable foresight
planning, especially when it comes to
investing in infrastructure, staff and
facilities. On the strength of current
data available the percentage of female
students is likely to increase, and thus
greater thought needs to be given to
meeting their needs and requirements.
As things stand the country will
require additional universities and
colleges, some of these to be specialist
subject providers with other
institutions offering a broader range of
practical and technical subjects. In
addition, the higher education sector
will need to embrace the potential to
increase stakeholder engagement
through the offering of Massively
Open Online Courses (MOOCs), with
these being offered in Bangla, but
particularly in English in order to
ensure that the workforce has
maximum flexibility when it comes to
employment opportunities at home
OOne year ago, BlackRock
chairman and chief executive
officer Larry Fink wrote a
letter to 500 CEOs asking them to
rethink their sense of purpose. "To
prosper over time," he wrote, "every
company must not only deliver
financial performance, but also show
how it makes a positive contribution
to society."
Fink argued that companies'
excessive short-term focus was
hurting their ability to create more
value in the long run. Some
prominent politicians - including US
Senator Elizabeth Warren and (until
Brexit torpedoed her policy agenda)
British Prime Minister Theresa May -
have also advocated a more inclusive
and less predatory form of
capitalism.
But despite these calls to action,
little has changed. The financial
sector remains self-obsessed and
invests mostly in other parts of
finance, insurance and real estate.
Companies also are overly
financialized, spending more on
share buybacks and dividends than
on human capital, machinery, and
research and development.
The financial sector remains selfobsessed
and invests mostly in other
parts of finance, insurance and real
estate. Companies also are overly
financialized, spending more on
share buybacks and dividends than
on human capital, machinery, and
research and development
And the buyback mania is getting
worse, including at companies like
Apple, where falling innovation is
not unrelated to the failure to
reinvest. Many businesses talk
soothingly about corporate social
responsibility, impact, and social
purpose, but very few put these at the
core of their operations.
Fink claimed that companies
should instead focus on a broader
group of stakeholders:
"shareholders, employees,
customers, and the communities in
which they operate." But this would
require corporate governance
structures that maximize
Dr P r Datta and Mark t. JonES
and abroad.
There is an impression in some
quarters that some higher education
providers in Bangladesh are stuck in a
1980's time warp. Students are
lectured at, learning is by rote, and
there is little or no scope or
encouragement to develop
independent thought. As if this were
not alarming enough, academics are
often denied opportunities to engage
in additional training and professional
development and rarely if ever
undertake new research that is put in
the public domain. Such institutions
have become academic backwaters
that are uninspiring, dull and not fit
for purpose. It is thus imperative that
the Government shows leadership to
ensure that all public and private
providers are dynamic, innovative and
accountable. The establishment of a
Bangladesh Higher Education
Research Council would be an
excellent way to help maintain
academic rigor and quality control
across the sector. This is doubly
important as the entire sector would
benefit from being benchmarked
against international competitors.
Central to any development will be
the role of leadership, something that
takes on an added significance when
we consider that we are living in a
VUCA world, one that is Volatile,
Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous.
Here are some ideas of how to
respond:
* Volatile/Volatility - Focus on
preparedness, foresight planning
and risk mitigation.
* Uncertain/Uncertainty - Invest in
information, collect it, interpret it
and share it.
* Complex/Complexity - Undertake
appropriate restructuring, invest
in new resources and hire/utilise
specialists where appropriate
* Ambiguous/Ambiguity - Examine
and explore cause and effect. Seek
to learn lessons and adapt
accordingly.
Rather than retreating into the
comfort of the familiar there needs to
be a concerted effort to embrace
change and ensure that Quality
Assurance mechanism are in place to
help focus minds. Far greater
on the current rate of growth Bangladesh is set to have a
population of 194.5 million by 2037 (Source:
www.populationpyramid.net/bangladesh/2037/). Such
growth will impact on all aspects of education and require
considerable foresight planning, especially when it comes to
investing in infrastructure, staff and facilities. on the
strength of current data available the percentage of female
students is likely to increase, and thus greater thought needs
to be given to meeting their needs and requirements.
stakeholder value, not shareholder
value - and neither Fink nor other
business luminaries seem willing to
go down this "Scandinavian" path.
Real change means putting
purpose at the center of how value is
defined by firms, governments, and
the economic theory that informs
policymakers.
As I argue in my new book, Adam
Smith and Karl Marx made the
objective conditions of production -
the division of labor, machinery, and
capital-labor relations - central to
their understanding of value. In
neoclassical economics, however,
value is merely a function of
exchange. Only what has a price is
valuable, and "collective" effort is
omitted, because only individual
decisions matter. Even wages are
seen as outcomes of people's utilitymaximizing
choices between leisure
and work.
In the neoclassical view,
governments at best redistribute
value created elsewhere.
Furthermore, gross domestic
product doesn't account for the value
of essential public services such as
health care and education. It does,
though, account for their costs
(teachers' salaries, for example), so
that civil servants cannot claim to be
as "productive" as former Goldman
Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein in 2009
infamously suggested his employees
were.
Unsurprisingly, public officials,
cognizance should be taken of Lean
Management Systems, with a view to
stakeholder engagement, efficiency
and effectiveness.
Over the coming years technology
will revolutionise the world of study,
work and leisure. Rather than being
fearful of such change every effort
needs to be made to come to terms
with and embrace change. Sadly, many
in the most senior roles find new
technology totally alien and thus have
yet to grasp the enormity of the change
that is already underway. For
institutions to survive and thrive in a
global market they will need to ensure
that they hire and train staff at all
levels to be technology savvy and ever
ready to make the most of the
potential that new developments will
bring. Change is happening now, and
it will not wait for those would rather
pretend that it is not happening. The
best institutions invest money in
research and development, and as
innovators they ensure generous
Let's get real about purpose
Mariana Mazzucato
long accused of "crowding out"
business, have internalized the belief
that they should do no more than fix
market failures. Yet the public
organizations that put a man on the
moon and invented the Internet did
more than just correct market
failures. They had ambition, a
purpose, and a mission.
To get real about purpose, we need
to recognize that value is created
collectively and build more symbiotic
partnerships between public and
private institutions and civil society.
In doing so, we must address three
questions: what value to create, how
to evaluate the impact, and how to
share the rewards.
Paul Polman, the departing CEO of
Similarly, companies evaluating their social
impact should ditch fuzzy objectives and focus on
concrete steps to help solve problems. Financial
institutions would no longer evaluate their loans
on the basis of categories of firms or countries, but
rather in terms of activities that help fulfill specific
missions - such as removing plastic from the
ocean or creating more sustainable cities.
Unilever, has rightly tried to focus
companies on creating value in line
with substantial targets, especially
the United Nations' 17 Sustainable
Development Goals.
Of course, neither the public nor
the private sector alone can meet all
169 specific targets underpinning the
SDGs. But governments can use the
goals to create initiatives that require
investment and innovation from
many public, private, and civilsociety
organizations. I advocated
this approach in a report that has
become a key part of the European
Commission's Horizon program.
Similarly, companies evaluating
their social impact should ditch fuzzy
objectives and focus on concrete
steps to help solve problems.
funding for physical spaces that foster
and support creativity. A proven sign
of a forward-thinking HE institution is
one that forges long-term partnerships
with industry. Knowledge transfer is
very much the name of the game and
this will require far less politics and far
more openness and interaction.
If Bangladesh is going to be able to
ensure that it has a highly skilled,
intelligent and flexible workforce it
will need to invest heavily in literacy
across the board and make STEM
(Science, Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics) Education a
priority. Many course programmes
and portfolios will require changing,
and in some cases a radical overhaul
with a view to adapting to changing
priorities and expectations.
In order to bring about such
change those in leadership and
management roles will be required
to be far more outward looking and
willing to benchmark their
institutions against the best in the
world. Global Higher Education
League Tables matter and as ever
complacency and self-importance
must be avoided at all cost.
So, let us return to the children born
this year. The education that they
receive in the next few years will shape
their ability to make the most of the
options available to them in latter life.
New universities and campuses do not
just happen overnight, they require
thought, planning and investment
over the coming years. Tranches of
research funding need to be budgeted
for and will staff require on-going
training. The decisions and action (or
inaction) taken over the next five to
ten years will directly impact upon
those children who will be 18 by the
year 2037. Bangladesh needs to ensure
that its entire HE is ready, willing and
able to shape a future for the adults of
tomorrow and beyond.
Dr P R Datta FCIM, FCMI
Executive Chair, Academy of Business
& Retail Management, UK
Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Business and
Retail Management Research, UK
Mark T. Jones BA (Hons), FCILN
Consultant Futurist
Editor-in-Chief - International Journal of
Higher Education Management, UK
Financial institutions would no
longer evaluate their loans on the
basis of categories of firms or
countries, but rather in terms of
activities that help fulfill specific
missions - such as removing plastic
from the ocean or creating more
sustainable cities.
Likewise, governments should give
fewer handouts to companies and
instead rely more on procurement
and prize schemes to nurture
corporate innovations aimed at
achieving the SDGs. In other words,
there should be less picking winners
and more picking the willing.
Finally, companies must share the
rewards as well as the risks of
creating value. Business has
benefited enormously from public
investment not only in education,
research, and basic infrastructure,
but also in technologies like those
powering today's smartphones.
Governments could, therefore, retain
more of the upside returns to cover
the downside losses that risk-taking
involves.
For example, they could take equity
stakes in companies like Tesla, which
received a similar amount of support
as the failed company Solyndra, or
generate non-monetary returns by
setting conditions on the prices of
goods (such as medicines) that
receive heavy public investments,
and on knowledge governance (to
ensure that the patent system is not
abused).
Similarly, conditions on
reinvesting corporate profits would
reduce cash hoarding and sharebuybacks.
To cite one famous
example, when Bell Labs was
formed, monopolies like AT&T were
pressured to reinvest their profits.
That courage has been lost.
A more purposeful capitalism
requires more than just letters,
speeches and goodwill gestures.
Business, government, and civil
society must act together,
courageously, to ensure that their
walk is as good as their talk.
Source : Asia times