Determinants of quality education in private universities from student perspectives. A case study in Bangladesh
| Date | 01 February 2016 |
| Pages | 123-138 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/QAE-09-2013-0040 |
| Published date | 01 February 2016 |
| Author | Mohammad A. Ashraf,Abu Zafar Rashed Osman,Sarker Rafij Ahmed Ratan |
| Subject Matter | Education,Curriculum, instruction & assessment,Educational evaluation/assessment |
Determinants of quality
education in private universities
from student perspectives
A case study in Bangladesh
Mohammad A. Ashraf
Department of Economics, United International University,
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Abu Zafar Rashed Osman
College of Business, University Utara Malaysia, Sintok, Malaysia, and
Sarker Raj Ahmed Ratan
School of Business and Economics, United International University,
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of the present study is to identify the determinants that potentially inuence
quality education in private universities in Bangladesh.
Design/methodology/approach – To attain this objective, 234 data were collected through
face-to-face interviews on campus during February-March 2013 from Bachelor of Business
Administration students. The bootstrapping procedure through AMOS was applied to analyze the data
apart from exploratory and conrmatory factor analysis.
Findings – The bootstrap path coefcients suggest that seven factors are statistically signicant
among the eight postulated independent variables. The outcomes of the conrmatory factor analysis,
such as factor loadings, eigenvalues and percentage of variance explained, as well as reliability
coefcients, are observed to conform to the results of path analysis, such as item loadings and path
coefcients, which consistently increased the robustness of the study.
Practical implications – The overall results of the study would be benecial to the planners to
formulate the proper policy to ensure the quality excellence in the private higher educational institutes.
Originality/value – The research is based on empirical evidence which deserves originality in terms
of data and methods of analysis.
Keywords Bangladesh, Quality education, Factor analysis, Determinants, Educational policy,
Private universities
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Bangladesh, during two decades after its liberation in 1971, was dominated by public
control (Ashraf, 2012). Educational institutions, such as schools (with a few exceptions)
and universities, were run by public funds and initiatives. By the 1980s, the higher
education sector as a whole in Bangladesh experienced a dramatic upward trend in
social demand which could not be met by the existing public educational institutes.
Since the state could not afford to fund the establishment of the additional new
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Determinants
of quality
education
123
Received 18 September 2013
Revised 30 June 2014
Accepted 3 July 2015
QualityAssurance in Education
Vol.24 No. 1, 2016
pp.123-138
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0968-4883
DOI 10.1108/QAE-09-2013-0040
institutes, it considered the option of privatization in the higher education sector. Being
cautious for about a decade, the Parliament voted for enacting a bill of establishment of
private universities in Bangladesh in 1992 (Alam et al., 2007).
After the enactment of the Private Universities Act of 1992, Bangladesh experienced
a remarkably rapid development in private higher educational institutes over the past
two decades. According to a report of the UGC (2013), currently, there are 71 private
universities in Bangladesh. Yet, this remarkable development is not free of the concerns
associated with a high rate of turnover of faculty, as well as the administrative staff
compared to public universities, along with a risk of compromise on quality and costs
(Ashraf and Joarder, 2009). However, the aggregate effect is a dynamic education sector
with healthy rivalry among the competing institutions (Ashraf et al., 2009).
Nevertheless, the fruits of this development have been reaped by the student community
of Bangladesh, as a whole, who are enjoying access to a wider platform of a variety of
academic trades, with a domestic comparative cost advantages over studying abroad.
Hence, the cumulative effect of this vibrant development in the education sector involves
not only closing the loophole of capital drain but also contributes to build up rich human
capital which is deemed to be a key to develop a nation in the twenty-rst century.
Fortunately, the country as a whole, ultimately, gains from having these new, young
higher educational institutes (Ashraf, 2012).
Besides, there is another concern which is related to the cost-benet analysis of
studying in public and private universities in Bangladesh. As such, education in the
public universities is much cheaper than the private universities, but the quality of
education is also an important concern which is rated much higher in the public
universities compared to the private universities (UGC, 2013). Thus, it remains a
dilemma in the case of private sector education whether better quality would be too
costly for the local students.
One of the attractive features of education of the private universities in Bangladesh is
the course-curricula which are designed according to the American model of education
based on a trimester system rather than the old British system. They offer a four-year
bachelor degree program with credit-hour-based courses. In addition, the medium of
instruction in all of these private universities is exclusively English without exception
(Ashraf et al., 2009).
However, the service quality, design and costs of the private universities remain
paramount issues to the regulatory authority, academia and policymakers of the
country (Ashraf et al., 2009). In fact, the University Grant Commission (UGC) appears to
be a toothless tiger which can do nothing to control the private universities and to
enhance the quality of education other than to dispatch ineffective directions to these
university authorities. This means that the authorities of the private universities hold no
accountability to the UGC because they actually receive no funding from the UGC. In the
name of fullling a duty, they just send their yearly reports of the universities to the
UGC which can preserve them for their ofcial record and make them available to other
agencies including government authorities (Ashraf et al., 2009).
Hence, the quality of higher education rendered by these private universities has
remained an important factor which is ranked among the top priorities by the civil
society, educationists and policy planners of Bangladesh. This study has, thus,
endeavored to identify the factors that are responsible for inuencing the quality of
education in private higher educational institutes in Bangladesh.
QAE
24,1
124
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