Can governance and regulatory control ensure private higher education as business or public goods in Bangladesh

Abstract

This article examines and discusses the existing role, status and quality of Higher Education (HE) imparted in the Private Universities in Bangladesh. The major findings assert that private HE sector considers education as business goods rather public goods. Knowledge is a public property. But, entrepreneurs of private institution of higher education believe that bazaar of education will determine whether private HE sector is providing a quality and epoch-making education. It is their belief that the increasing number of students enrolling with the private sector demonstrates that this sector is doing right. These days, the huge responsibility of public policy is not acceptable for many reasons. Moreover, an increasing number of students do not essentially demonstrate that things are moving in the right direction; a business policy or some degree of misleading information may increase enrolment temporarily. This finding also confirms that in nature public and private education differs from each other so governance and regulatory mechanism setup for public system is not suited to private provision. Private system requires a different kind of setup applicable to its nature and function. This paper recommends action plans for improvement of quality education for the social and economic backdrop of the country ensuring a decent governance and regulatory control with private HE sector. This paper argued that there is a need of a new method for monitoring the implementation, reviewing the pursuance at regular intervals to ensure quality assurance for the private HE in Bangladesh.