Higher Education of Bangladesh to Meet the Challenges of the IR 4.0

International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056

Volume: 09 Issue: 12 | Dec 2022 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072

Higher Education of Bangladesh to Meet the Challenges of the IR 4.0

Md. Kabir Hossain1 , Mir Md. Rahmatullah2, M. M. Musharaf Hussain3

1Assistant Professor (ICT), Bandarban Cantonment Public School & College, Bandarban, Bangladesh. 2Level:4, Semester:2, Faculty of Fisheries, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science & Technology University, Bangladesh 3Professor, Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Creative Technology Chattogram, Bangladesh ***

Abstract - TheFourthIndustrialRevolution(IR4.0)callson us to think creatively about production processes, value chains, distribution and customer service processes. Meanwhile, the future of education emphasizes the immense need to look beyond these areas and strategically use the "Internet of Things" to prepare the upcoming workforce for the challenges ahead. Universities emphasize their role in shaping future technologies by experimenting with innovations and educating future generations. Traditional education has greatly contributed to the current level of industrialevolutionandtechnologicaladvancement.However, forhighereducationtoequipfuturegenerationswiththeright skills and knowledge; a question that remains is how higher educationinstitutionswillbeaffectedbytheFourthIndustrial Revolution and how they will shape themselves in education.

Key Words: IndustrialRevolution,HigherEducation,TVET, Curriculum,IR4.0,IoTetc

1. INTRODUCTION

Universities are the front line institutions to meet the challengesofthe fourth industrial revolution. Universities shouldworktowardsthatgoal.Let'sstartwithanexample. One day I went to seek admission in a government polytechnic institute. We have a variety of admissions inquirieswhicharelimitedtoafewspecificquestions.Isaw thatusingthisconcept,theinstituteplacedarobotinfrontof the admission office. This admission assistant robot is helping the incoming people by listening and answering theirquestions.Everydaymanyadmission-seekingstudents andparentsattendthereandtrytogetsimilarinformation. Therobotassiststheadmissionsofficersbyansweringthese same questions. The robot is very efficient in this work. Artificialintelligenceisnowbeingusedtocreateideasfor business success; robots are being used in the apparel industry. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is no longer a dream but a reflection of reality. We should capitalize on everything we have and move quickly. The breakthrough role that countries want to take in the Fourth Industrial Revolutioncanbemadepossiblebychangingthetraditional way of higher education. The growing development and acceptance of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) will strengthenhighereducationstandardsandprovidemuchneeded fuel to quality education indicators. If "Global Identity"and"EducationforYou"areadoptedgloballyinthe implementationofGlobalEducationlikeGlobalVillage,itwill

bepossibletoacceleratethefourthindustrialrevolutionby highereducation.

2. Background of IR & Higher Education

On December 16, 1972, on the first Victory Day of Bangladesh, he initiated the development of a knowledgebased economy by establishing the UGC through the President's order. In 1973, the activities of UGC officially started.BangabandhuSheikhMujiburRahmandreamedofa hunger-free and prosperous 'Golden Bangla'. Carrying the same philosophy, the country has been transformed into 'DigitalBangladesh'.Vision2021,Vision2030,Vision2041, Vision 2071 and Delta Plan 2100 have been adopted to achieve the status of a safe, developed and innovative country.

Fig -1:Mostoftheimportantelementsofthe4thIndustrial Revolution

Achievingthesegoalswillonlybepossiblewhenwecan promote high-quality teaching and research and create an innovative education ecosystem. For this purpose, the University Grants Commission of Bangladesh (UGC) has organized an international conference on “4th Industrial

International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056

Volume: 09 Issue: 12 | Dec 2022 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072

RevolutionandBeyond(IC4IR)2021”.Onthebirthcentenary of the father of the nation and the golden jubilee of the country'sindependence,ahigh-levelinternationalforumwill becreatedtobringtogetherresearchersandpractitionersto help us to solve local problems, improve lives and environmentandachievetheSustainableDevelopmentGoals usingthetechniquesoftheFourthIndustrialRevolution.The forum will in future deal with topics such as artificial intelligence, robotics and automation, IoT and smart agriculture, data analytics and cloud computing, communicationandnetworksignalingandnaturallanguage processing,amongothers.

3. Ranking of the universities in Global Aspects

Therankingofouruniversitiesinvariousglobalindicesis notquiteacceptable.AccordingtothelatestTimesHigher Education Ranking 2022, only three universities in the countryareincludedintheglobalranking.DhakaUniversity (801-1000), Bangladesh Agricultural University (10011200) and BUET (1201+). In 2022, 13 universities of the country have been included in the Asia ranking. In digital Bangladesh,weshouldemphasizethefollowingpointsinour highereducationvisiontomeetthechallengesofthefourth industrialrevolution.

Bangladesh has already passed the first stage of digital education i.e. face to face digital and now we are in the secondstageofdigitaleducationi.e.blendeddigital.Forthis, theUGChasrecentlyapprovedtheBlendedLearningPolicy 2021.Thenextstepisonlinedigitaleducation.Bangladeshis yettoestablishitscompetitivepositionintheglobalonline educationindustry.Itsmarketvalueis375billiondollarsby 2026. It can easily be our third highest source of income afterexpatriateincomeandreadymadegarmentindustry.In this case, technologies of the fourth industrial revolution (suchasartificialintelligence-basedLMS,learninganalytics) must be effectively integrated into the system. Even neighbouringIndiahasstartedrecognizingonlinedegrees. This has been done for at least 10 years in the developed world.

4. Model of TVET and Structure of the Curriculum at Bachelor’s Degree

To face the 4th industrial revolution B.Sc. Curriculum mustbespecificandsubjectoriented.Thecurriculumshould includecontentthatwillprovideagraduatewiththeskills necessary to practice as a teacher in a university of engineeringandtechnologyoranyotherinstitution.Subjects taughtmaybeclassifiedintovocationalacademicsubjects, technical subjects (in specialization), mathematics and natural science subjects, humanities and other related subjects,andtechnicalprojectsandreports.Thiswillenable both teachers and students to survive the 4th Industrial Revolutionwithcompetence.Thistypeofcurriculumshould bedesignedwiththefollowinginformationanddatainmind.

5. Inclusion of TVET Components in Undergraduate Curriculum

Every university graduate should have a vocational componentaspartoftheircurriculumtopreparethemfor the future world of work. Examples could be automobiles, electricalwiring,graphics,videoediting,andanimation.Itis true that there are many unemployed graduates in the country, but they do not have to wait for jobs if they have vocationalskills;rathertheycancreatejobopportunitiesfor others.Evenonlinedigitaleducationcanopenthousandsof job opportunities like teaching assistant, learning advisor, instructionaldesigner,learningtechnologist.Manyjobswill

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International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056

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belostwiththeadventoftheFourthIndustrialRevolution. Butmorethanthat,newjobswillbecreated.

One of the main reasons for the poor ranking of our universitiesisthelownumberofinternationalstudents.Itis only3and0percentintwotopinstitutesofthecountry.In contrast,mostAustralianuniversitieshaveabout40percent international students. Having foreign students generates billions of dollarsannuallyand contributessignificantlyto rankings.

Manyofouruniversitycurriculaareoutdated.Itisoften notcreatedorupdatedbasedonneeds.BCScentriceducation willnothelpusinlongrun.Alargegapbetweenacademia and industry is evident and needs to be addressed in our curriculum. Should students engage more with practice in industry inthefinal yearofan undergraduate or graduate program,theremaybeacapstoneprojectorthesisoption. One or two university courses may be offered online if neededatthattime.Governmentandprivatesectorshould comeforwardinsponsoringsuchinitiatives.

Softskills,suchascommunicationskills,languageskills, cognitive or emotional empathy, time management, teamwork, leadership qualities are very important for employment. It can mainly ensure job placement (local or international),freelancing,consultancyprofiledevelopment, businessdevelopmentguidanceandIGA(IncomeGenerating Activities).BesidesBengaliandEnglish,thirdlanguageskills canproveveryusefulinemployment.

Higher education can have different schemes, such as completelyfree,government-subsidizedandfull-fee,which canbepaidbasedonthetaxpayer'sincome.Governmentscan further subsidize Fourth Industrial Revolution-related coursesandprogramsbasedontheirdemandinthelocaljob market.Whenstudentsgetajoborbecomeanentrepreneur aftergraduation,theyhavetograduallypayofftheirstudent loans. In order to get government loans or subsidies, students'parentsorguardiansmustfileanincometaxreturn, evenifitisnil.

7. Poor Position in University Rankings and its Remedies:

Universityrankingisanimportantfactor.Thisrankingis done every year. Recently, the UK-based organization QuacquarelliSymonds(QS)publishedtherankingofthebest universities in the world-2023. On June 8, the list of the world's best 1,400 universities was published. But no university of Bangladesh was included in the top 500. However,9universitiesfromneighboringIndiaareinthetop 500list.EvenPakistanhas3universitiesinthetop500.But theeconomicinfrastructureofPakistanismuchweakerthan thatofBangladeshandtheconditionoftheircountryisnotso good.Butwearedoingsowelleconomicallywhynotoneof ouruniversitiesisinthetop500.Thereisalotofcriticism about it. Criticism is, of course, justified. The government

needstothinkaboutthis,whytheuniversityisnotinthetop 500. After looking into the matter, it needs a researched solution.In2012,DhakaUniversitywasranked600,butnow itisfallingbehindintheranking.Thisisdisappointingforus. Because, everyone believes that no development will be sustainable if there is no improvement in the quality of education. If the development is to be sustainable, the developmentineducation,theallocationforresearchshould beincreased.Educationcannotplayasignificantroleinthe overall development of the country if there is no great improvementinresearchorqualityresearch.

Thegovernmentneedstotakeeffectivestepstoensure thatouruniversitiescanquicklyrankinthetop500inthis worldranking.Studentsarealsoveryworriedasteachersare embarrassedwhynoneofouruniversitiesareinthetop500. Buttherearemanyreasonsbehindthis.Inthisranking,QS evaluates universities by dividing 100 points into 6 indicators. Among them, academic reputation is 40, reputationinthejobmarketis10,teacher-studentratiois20, teachers'researchis20andinternationalteacherratioand internationalstudentratioareconsideredas5.Butwearefar behindintheseindicators.Becauseuniversitiesdonottrack how many students are employed against a teacher. For example,accordingtointernationalstandards,oneteacher willbeemployedforevery20students.Butinrealitymanyof ouruniversitiesdon'tacceptitordon'thaveit.Itisalleged that the University Grants Commission does not grant concessions to teachers as per the criteria. For example, ChittagongUniversityhas27,550studentsand907teachers. The averageteacher-studentratiostandsat 30.37. That is, thereis1teacherfor30students.Ifyoutakethedata,itwill beseenthatinmanynewuniversitiesthereisonly1teacher for more than 30 students. There are hardly any foreign teachersorstudentsinouruniversities.Inthisregard,the universityauthoritiesquicklymadeapolicysothatforeign studentscanbeadmittedandsomeforeignfacultymembers can be appointed. Financial incentives should be given to teachers for quality of research and quality of research shouldbelinkedtopromotion.

International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056

Volume: 09 Issue: 12 | Dec 2022 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072

Apartfromthis,researchallocationshouldbeincreasedin theuniversitybudget.Allocationtoeducationshouldnotbe seenasexpenditurebutasinvestment.Thendevelopmentof education and research is possible. Academic reputation, good quality teachers should be appointed to increase the reputationinthejobmarket.NowIseethattheauthorities are appointing teachers with special qualifications in the university,whichisnotdesirableinanyway.Stoppingthese is the demand of time. It is not right to make any kind of compromise in the recruitment of teachers. 100% transparency should be ensured in the recruitment of teachers. Vice-Chancellors should be more careful in appointingteachersandstopnepotism.

Itistimetothinkdeeplyabouthowuniversitiescanbe positioned in a specific top 500 list. To do that, every universityshouldhaveanacademicmasterplan.Inorderto improve the universities in the basic indicators, the most talentedstudentsshouldbeappointedasteachersfirst.Rules should be made, teachers cannot be appointed without research.Apartfromthis,Master'sdegreesarewidelygiven intheuniversitiesofourcountry.It'snotright.Becausenot everyoneneedsamaster'sdegree.Grantingresearch-based degreestothosepursuingMasterswillincreasethenumber ofuniversityresearchesandthe qualityofteaching,which will help to enhance the academic reputation of the universities.IfteachersdonotgiveimportancetoPhDand post-doctoralresearch,itwillbedifficultforourinstitutionto get a place in university ranking. The University Grants CommissionandtheUniversityAdministrationshouldtake very quick steps to increase the teacher-student ratio in establishinginternationalstandards.

HigherEducationandResearchCommissionshouldbeset up as soon as possible, so that the quality of university teachersandteacherresearchcanbeimproved.Ibelievethat to get promotionat everystep from assistant professorto professor of the university, there should be research of internationalqualitywithPhDdegree,itisnecessarytomake sucharule,whichwillworktogetaplaceintherankingof theuniversity.Itisabsolutelynecessarytostopdirtypolitics and create an environment of constructive politics in the university.Dirtypoliticsseemstobelargelyresponsiblefor theuniversity'slackofplaceintherankings.

One of the major reasons for the poor ranking of our universitiesisthelownumberofinternationalstudents.Itis only3and0percentintwotopinstitutesofthecountry.In contrast,mostAustralianuniversitieshaveabout40percent international students. Having foreign students generates billions of dollarsannuallyand contributessignificantlyto rankings.Withtheirownfundingarrangements,universities can bring in visiting professors and scholars from abroad, especially those of Bangladeshi origin who have academic excellence in teaching and research in various fields. As a result,thequalityofeducationwillchange.

Universities should have a national ranking system followingtheTimesHigherEducation(THE)orQuacquarelli Symonds (QS) rankings. This will create a competitive but conducive academic environment for teachers and universities.Criteriaforinstitutionalpromotionandannual increments, such as academic excellence, professional development,qualitypublicationsandresearchgrantsneed tobefollowedandstrengthenedinasystematicmannerwith transparency.

AreportbytheWorldEconomicForum(2016)indicated, '65 percent of children entering primary school today will eventuallyworkinentirelynewjobsthatdon'tyetexist.'So educationisnotatick,butalifelongachievement.Thejobsof thefuturewillbethosethatcannotbedonebymachines.At the same time areas like creative endeavors, social interactionandphysicalskillsshouldbedeveloped.Humans candefeatmachines.Nowourpolicymakersshouldrethink theeducationpolicybyprioritizingresearchandinnovation relatedtothefourthindustrialrevolution,sothatBangladesh canemergeasabrandintheglobaleducationmarket.

8. CONCLUSION

Educational institutions can create a platform for developing young innovative talent such as high-level experts,scientistsandtechniciansbypreparinglessonplans tailoredtoIndustry4.0.Providingappropriateeducationto thefutureworkforceiscriticalandmanyresearcherspredict thatIR4.0willrequireprofoundchangesinkeyaspectssuch as education content, delivery, pedagogy, structure and management of education. By creating this kind of constructivechange,youngpeoplewithinnovativetalents can be harnessed to become indispensable manpower for anycountry.Thenthecountryandthenationcanenjoythe benefitsofIR4.0

REFERENCES

[1] www.tvet-online.asia [2] www.daily-sun.com [3] www.google.com.bd/ [4] www.unesdoc.unesco.org

[5] www.precisioncampus.com

[6] www.thefinancialexpress.com.bd

[7] www.edtechnology.co.uk