Government Facilitation of Private Higher Education in Bangladesh: The Partnership Approach

Main Article Content

Abu Yousuf Md. Abdullah

Keywords

Bangladesh, facilitation, government, partnership, private university, education

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the key areas in which private universities in Bangladesh require government support, and to analyze the current sectoral context for delineating the optimal nature of required government facilitation. The country's private tertiary institutions are facing restrictive governance strategies at a time when effective government support is vital for enhancing private universities' increasingly important role in nation-building. This qualitative study was based on particular tenets of grounded theory, using open-ended, axial and selective coding for analyzing data collected from open-ended interviews and secondary sources. Interview participants were selected through purposive sampling on the basis of their administrative, policymaking and pedagogical roles in private higher education. The coded results showed the need for government support in the areas of quality assurance, curriculum standardization, research facilitation and faculty development through foresighted governance and policy approaches. The emergent theory of “the Partnership Approach” shows that instead of regulation-focused government interventions, collaborative and supportive governance policies are required for bolstering private higher education in Bangladesh.

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