ABSTRACT The concept ‘network governance’ has become widespread and is often believed to occur in... more ABSTRACT The concept ‘network governance’ has become widespread and is often believed to occur in a Western environment. Is network governance applicable to other contexts and what can we learn from it in Bangladeshi context? This paper outlines how the idea of ‘network governance’ emerged and how it operates in a neoliberal higher education policy-formulation process in Bangladesh. It is based on a qualitative case study, using qualitative content analysis of documents and a thematic analysis of interviews with 13 state-level policy actors and one journalist in which they provide accounts of networking policy activities in the development of a Strategic Plan for Higher Education. This paper seeks to contribute to the understanding of not only how network governance is formed at the micro-level, but also how network governance interplays with structures and how policies that circulate globally are negotiated and shaped in the local context.
International and cross-border student mobility is not a new phenomenon. Each year, millions of s... more International and cross-border student mobility is not a new phenomenon. Each year, millions of students access a better education by crossing their national borders from less developed or newly-industrialised countries to Western, industrialised countries. These students are participating in tertiary education, school education and preschool education.
I, hereby declare that this thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of ... more I, hereby declare that this thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at any university or equivalent institution and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, this thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference is made in the text of the thesis.
The concept of “elite interviewing” is a recent phenomenon in educational research and has been s... more The concept of “elite interviewing” is a recent phenomenon in educational research and has been studied widely in the Western context. Drawing on my own experience, this article traces the challenges and difficulties involved in “elite interviewing” in higher education in post-colonial Bangladesh. It is based on a critical methodological perspective, using a thematic analysis of interviews with 28 higher education policy-making elites working between the 1990s and 2010s at the state level in Bangladesh. This article examines how the local power structure within the current socio-political context emerged from a long colonial past, and how this in turn influenced elite interviewing. It looks at how the researcher, who’s onto-epistemological as well as geopolitical position originated from and has been influenced by both Global South and Global North contexts, negotiated with this distinctive power structure in elite interview settings to understand the “micro-politics” of neoliberal ...
Introduction Improved hygiene and sanitation practices in educational settings are effective for ... more Introduction Improved hygiene and sanitation practices in educational settings are effective for the prevention of infections, controlling the transmission of pathogens, and promoting good health. Bangladesh has made remarkable advances in improving higher education in recent decades. Over a hundred universities were established to expand higher education facilities across the country. Hundreds of thousands of graduate students spend time in university settings during their studies. However, little is known about the sanitation and hygiene practice of the university-going population. This study aims to understand and uncover which factors influence students’ sanitation and hygiene behavior in university settings. Methods This study was conducted in a public university named Shahjalal University of Science and Technology located in a divisional city of Bangladesh. Based on the Integrated Behavioral Model for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (IBM-WASH), we adopted an exploratory qualita...
Parental involvement with secondary schools is a relatively new concept in the Bangladeshi educat... more Parental involvement with secondary schools is a relatively new concept in the Bangladeshi education perspective. The formation of School Management Committee (SMC) and various programs carried out by the secondary schools have created opportunities for parents as community members to be involved in secondary schools in Bangladesh. This article reports the processes of parental involvement in the secondary schools in Bangladesh. Consequently, we aimed to access to the perceptions and experiences of different stakeholders in Bangladesh to explore how parents' are being involved in children's education, and how secondary schools are using different strategies to form partnerships with parents'. A qualitative approach was used in which data were collected through in-depth interview from seven different stakeholders of the society and policy documents. We used thematic analysis to analyse the data. The result suggested parents experience different issues related to students learning and success, and contributing to school improvement. To build a relationship with parents, schools used limited strategies like organise parents' convention and form parents committee. The school also often used telephone and email to communicate with parents. The lack of awareness of both parents and schools and overloaded teaching stuff are found as the major challenges of involving parents at secondary level. It also identified different areas of parental involvement including introducing progress report, notebook system, consultation program, home visit, and annual gathering and cultural program need to be developed further in order to build strong partnerships between parents' and schools.
Neoliberalism is a common form of policy doctrine that has been incorporated into the higher educ... more Neoliberalism is a common form of policy doctrine that has been incorporated into the higher education sector in Bangladesh since the 1990s. Due to this policy doctrine, Bangladesh's higher education sector has experienced radical changes. This article argues that violence has erupted in higher education institutions following university authorities and government intervention into student resistance movements. It further argues that the campus violence which has been unfolding recently in various universities has a different context and focus from previous student activism. In the past significant resistance movements that had the support of public masses had been accompanied by the campus violence in Bangladesh. Such campus violence contributed to nationalist movements and led to the downfall of autocrat rulers and reversal of their decisions. However, current resistance movements have turned into a new form of campus violence. This article examines the shifts in the nature of student protests and explores possible relationships between the overt violence of student resistance movements and the hidden violence embedded within the power systems that are currently accompanying neoliberal and monetarist agendas.
Teacher’s World: Journal of Education and Research
The University of Dhaka was founded in 1921, marking the beginning of modern higher education in ... more The University of Dhaka was founded in 1921, marking the beginning of modern higher education in Bangladesh. The decision to build the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh was made as restitution for the 1905 partition of Bengal being declared invalid. The Special Issue honours the 100th anniversary of the University of Dhaka and the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s independence. As the pinnacle of academic quality, the university offers opportunities for researchers, professionals, and scholars to participate in theoretical debates, carry out empirical study, and contribute nationally and worldwide to share this pride. The Institute of Education and Research (IER) publishes a special edition of Teacher’s World on this occasion. This special issue examines the University of Dhaka’s contribution to Bangladeshi research and education. Five sub-themes are offered for the articles written by various academics and researchers. Father of the Nation’s Philosophy, Educational Development in In...
Teacher’s World: Journal of Education and Research
The concept of ‘policy trail’ is often used to understand how certain policy characteristics in t... more The concept of ‘policy trail’ is often used to understand how certain policy characteristics in terms of ideas, people, and resources have been travelled over time. Drawing on the idea of ‘policy trail’, this paper attempts to understand how ‘education’ as an area of study was established at the university of Dhaka in 1959, and after 50 years of its establishment, how such an idea of ‘education’ as a distinct discipline has been travelled into other public universities in Bangladesh. To present the narratives of the “policy trail” in creating “education” as a distinct discipline in Bangladesh, this article, based on qualitative research techniques, uses a qualitative content analysis in documents. This paper aims to advance knowledge of how policy is transferred from the Global North to the Global South and how such policy genres are transferred through various public institutions within a nation-state. Vol. 48 (University of Dhaka Centennial Special Issue), June 2022 p.35-50
Parental involvement with secondary schools is a relatively new concept in the Bangladeshi educat... more Parental involvement with secondary schools is a relatively new concept in the Bangladeshi education perspective. The formation of School Management Committee (SMC) and various programs carried out by the secondary schools have created opportunities for parents as community members to be involved in secondary schools in Bangladesh. This article reports the processes of parental involvement in the secondary schools in Bangladesh. Consequently, we aimed to access to the perceptions and experiences of different stakeholders in Bangladesh to explore how parents' are being involved in children's education, and how secondary schools are using different strategies to form partnerships with parents'. A qualitative approach was used in which data were collected through in-depth interview from seven different stakeholders of the society and policy documents. We used thematic analysis to analyse the data. The result suggested parents experience different issues related to students learning and success, and contributing to school improvement. To build a relationship with parents, schools used limited strategies like organise parents' convention and form parents committee. The school also often used telephone and email to communicate with parents. The lack of awareness of both parents and schools and overloaded teaching stuff are found as the major challenges of involving parents at secondary level. It also identified different areas of parental involvement including introducing progress report, notebook system, consultation program, home visit, and annual gathering and cultural program need to be developed further in order to build strong partnerships between parents' and schools.
Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, 2018
The purpose of this chapter is to explore the expansion of higher education through the growth of... more The purpose of this chapter is to explore the expansion of higher education through the growth of private universities in the context of Bangladesh. The study explores these processes through a thematic qualitative analysis of the Private University Acts and Ordinance formulated by successive governments since the 1990s, which have dictated the governance and development of the private university in Bangladesh. This chapter traces the shifts in the governance system in the private universities in Bangladesh over a period of nearly 25 years and argues that the government developed a 'mix private-public' control of governance system in the private universities drawing on New Public Management (NPM) in order to control vested interests and political influences. This chapter further argues that the involvement of the state formally in the governance structure of private universities provides a new model of power sharing which has the potential to ensure that private universities can provide public good and circumscribes how these universities' vested interest groups use the private university as a tool for their private business interests.
The June 2008 Interagency Agreement between the California Department of Education (CDE) and the ... more The June 2008 Interagency Agreement between the California Department of Education (CDE) and the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) provides that, by July 31, 2008, " OAH will.. . provide descriptions of the quality control mechanisms used to ensure that hearings are fair and decisions are accurate. " OAH utilizes the following quality control mechanisms to ensure these standards. For new Administrative Law Judges (ALJ) in the Special Education Division: • OAH has established an initial training program which satisfies the qualification and training requirements for hearing officers and mediators. • Pursuant to the Interagency Agreement, the Supervisor of the Special Education Division makes a determination that an ALJ meets the standards for qualification and training before OAH assigns the ALJ to hear a special education matter. For all Administrative Law Judges (ALJ) in the Special Education Division: • OAH has established a continuing education program for all ALJ...
ABSTRACT The concept ‘network governance’ has become widespread and is often believed to occur in... more ABSTRACT The concept ‘network governance’ has become widespread and is often believed to occur in a Western environment. Is network governance applicable to other contexts and what can we learn from it in Bangladeshi context? This paper outlines how the idea of ‘network governance’ emerged and how it operates in a neoliberal higher education policy-formulation process in Bangladesh. It is based on a qualitative case study, using qualitative content analysis of documents and a thematic analysis of interviews with 13 state-level policy actors and one journalist in which they provide accounts of networking policy activities in the development of a Strategic Plan for Higher Education. This paper seeks to contribute to the understanding of not only how network governance is formed at the micro-level, but also how network governance interplays with structures and how policies that circulate globally are negotiated and shaped in the local context.
International and cross-border student mobility is not a new phenomenon. Each year, millions of s... more International and cross-border student mobility is not a new phenomenon. Each year, millions of students access a better education by crossing their national borders from less developed or newly-industrialised countries to Western, industrialised countries. These students are participating in tertiary education, school education and preschool education.
I, hereby declare that this thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of ... more I, hereby declare that this thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at any university or equivalent institution and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, this thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference is made in the text of the thesis.
The concept of “elite interviewing” is a recent phenomenon in educational research and has been s... more The concept of “elite interviewing” is a recent phenomenon in educational research and has been studied widely in the Western context. Drawing on my own experience, this article traces the challenges and difficulties involved in “elite interviewing” in higher education in post-colonial Bangladesh. It is based on a critical methodological perspective, using a thematic analysis of interviews with 28 higher education policy-making elites working between the 1990s and 2010s at the state level in Bangladesh. This article examines how the local power structure within the current socio-political context emerged from a long colonial past, and how this in turn influenced elite interviewing. It looks at how the researcher, who’s onto-epistemological as well as geopolitical position originated from and has been influenced by both Global South and Global North contexts, negotiated with this distinctive power structure in elite interview settings to understand the “micro-politics” of neoliberal ...
Introduction Improved hygiene and sanitation practices in educational settings are effective for ... more Introduction Improved hygiene and sanitation practices in educational settings are effective for the prevention of infections, controlling the transmission of pathogens, and promoting good health. Bangladesh has made remarkable advances in improving higher education in recent decades. Over a hundred universities were established to expand higher education facilities across the country. Hundreds of thousands of graduate students spend time in university settings during their studies. However, little is known about the sanitation and hygiene practice of the university-going population. This study aims to understand and uncover which factors influence students’ sanitation and hygiene behavior in university settings. Methods This study was conducted in a public university named Shahjalal University of Science and Technology located in a divisional city of Bangladesh. Based on the Integrated Behavioral Model for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (IBM-WASH), we adopted an exploratory qualita...
Parental involvement with secondary schools is a relatively new concept in the Bangladeshi educat... more Parental involvement with secondary schools is a relatively new concept in the Bangladeshi education perspective. The formation of School Management Committee (SMC) and various programs carried out by the secondary schools have created opportunities for parents as community members to be involved in secondary schools in Bangladesh. This article reports the processes of parental involvement in the secondary schools in Bangladesh. Consequently, we aimed to access to the perceptions and experiences of different stakeholders in Bangladesh to explore how parents' are being involved in children's education, and how secondary schools are using different strategies to form partnerships with parents'. A qualitative approach was used in which data were collected through in-depth interview from seven different stakeholders of the society and policy documents. We used thematic analysis to analyse the data. The result suggested parents experience different issues related to students learning and success, and contributing to school improvement. To build a relationship with parents, schools used limited strategies like organise parents' convention and form parents committee. The school also often used telephone and email to communicate with parents. The lack of awareness of both parents and schools and overloaded teaching stuff are found as the major challenges of involving parents at secondary level. It also identified different areas of parental involvement including introducing progress report, notebook system, consultation program, home visit, and annual gathering and cultural program need to be developed further in order to build strong partnerships between parents' and schools.
Neoliberalism is a common form of policy doctrine that has been incorporated into the higher educ... more Neoliberalism is a common form of policy doctrine that has been incorporated into the higher education sector in Bangladesh since the 1990s. Due to this policy doctrine, Bangladesh's higher education sector has experienced radical changes. This article argues that violence has erupted in higher education institutions following university authorities and government intervention into student resistance movements. It further argues that the campus violence which has been unfolding recently in various universities has a different context and focus from previous student activism. In the past significant resistance movements that had the support of public masses had been accompanied by the campus violence in Bangladesh. Such campus violence contributed to nationalist movements and led to the downfall of autocrat rulers and reversal of their decisions. However, current resistance movements have turned into a new form of campus violence. This article examines the shifts in the nature of student protests and explores possible relationships between the overt violence of student resistance movements and the hidden violence embedded within the power systems that are currently accompanying neoliberal and monetarist agendas.
Teacher’s World: Journal of Education and Research
The University of Dhaka was founded in 1921, marking the beginning of modern higher education in ... more The University of Dhaka was founded in 1921, marking the beginning of modern higher education in Bangladesh. The decision to build the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh was made as restitution for the 1905 partition of Bengal being declared invalid. The Special Issue honours the 100th anniversary of the University of Dhaka and the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s independence. As the pinnacle of academic quality, the university offers opportunities for researchers, professionals, and scholars to participate in theoretical debates, carry out empirical study, and contribute nationally and worldwide to share this pride. The Institute of Education and Research (IER) publishes a special edition of Teacher’s World on this occasion. This special issue examines the University of Dhaka’s contribution to Bangladeshi research and education. Five sub-themes are offered for the articles written by various academics and researchers. Father of the Nation’s Philosophy, Educational Development in In...
Teacher’s World: Journal of Education and Research
The concept of ‘policy trail’ is often used to understand how certain policy characteristics in t... more The concept of ‘policy trail’ is often used to understand how certain policy characteristics in terms of ideas, people, and resources have been travelled over time. Drawing on the idea of ‘policy trail’, this paper attempts to understand how ‘education’ as an area of study was established at the university of Dhaka in 1959, and after 50 years of its establishment, how such an idea of ‘education’ as a distinct discipline has been travelled into other public universities in Bangladesh. To present the narratives of the “policy trail” in creating “education” as a distinct discipline in Bangladesh, this article, based on qualitative research techniques, uses a qualitative content analysis in documents. This paper aims to advance knowledge of how policy is transferred from the Global North to the Global South and how such policy genres are transferred through various public institutions within a nation-state. Vol. 48 (University of Dhaka Centennial Special Issue), June 2022 p.35-50
Parental involvement with secondary schools is a relatively new concept in the Bangladeshi educat... more Parental involvement with secondary schools is a relatively new concept in the Bangladeshi education perspective. The formation of School Management Committee (SMC) and various programs carried out by the secondary schools have created opportunities for parents as community members to be involved in secondary schools in Bangladesh. This article reports the processes of parental involvement in the secondary schools in Bangladesh. Consequently, we aimed to access to the perceptions and experiences of different stakeholders in Bangladesh to explore how parents' are being involved in children's education, and how secondary schools are using different strategies to form partnerships with parents'. A qualitative approach was used in which data were collected through in-depth interview from seven different stakeholders of the society and policy documents. We used thematic analysis to analyse the data. The result suggested parents experience different issues related to students learning and success, and contributing to school improvement. To build a relationship with parents, schools used limited strategies like organise parents' convention and form parents committee. The school also often used telephone and email to communicate with parents. The lack of awareness of both parents and schools and overloaded teaching stuff are found as the major challenges of involving parents at secondary level. It also identified different areas of parental involvement including introducing progress report, notebook system, consultation program, home visit, and annual gathering and cultural program need to be developed further in order to build strong partnerships between parents' and schools.
Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, 2018
The purpose of this chapter is to explore the expansion of higher education through the growth of... more The purpose of this chapter is to explore the expansion of higher education through the growth of private universities in the context of Bangladesh. The study explores these processes through a thematic qualitative analysis of the Private University Acts and Ordinance formulated by successive governments since the 1990s, which have dictated the governance and development of the private university in Bangladesh. This chapter traces the shifts in the governance system in the private universities in Bangladesh over a period of nearly 25 years and argues that the government developed a 'mix private-public' control of governance system in the private universities drawing on New Public Management (NPM) in order to control vested interests and political influences. This chapter further argues that the involvement of the state formally in the governance structure of private universities provides a new model of power sharing which has the potential to ensure that private universities can provide public good and circumscribes how these universities' vested interest groups use the private university as a tool for their private business interests.
The June 2008 Interagency Agreement between the California Department of Education (CDE) and the ... more The June 2008 Interagency Agreement between the California Department of Education (CDE) and the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) provides that, by July 31, 2008, " OAH will.. . provide descriptions of the quality control mechanisms used to ensure that hearings are fair and decisions are accurate. " OAH utilizes the following quality control mechanisms to ensure these standards. For new Administrative Law Judges (ALJ) in the Special Education Division: • OAH has established an initial training program which satisfies the qualification and training requirements for hearing officers and mediators. • Pursuant to the Interagency Agreement, the Supervisor of the Special Education Division makes a determination that an ALJ meets the standards for qualification and training before OAH assigns the ALJ to hear a special education matter. For all Administrative Law Judges (ALJ) in the Special Education Division: • OAH has established a continuing education program for all ALJ...
This book problematises contemporary realities of the political dimension of the privatisation of... more This book problematises contemporary realities of the political dimension of the privatisation of higher education in Bangladesh. By exploring the complexities of neoliberalism as an economic and ideological doctrine, a mode of governance, and as a policy package, it considers the ‘post’ attached to and hyphenated with ‘colonialism’ as more aspirational than achieved. Based on an interdisciplinary study involving contemporary theories from political and social sciences, economics, and the socio-economics of education, the book explores the unique ways in which Bangladeshi higher education has evolved over the past four decades, and the complex politics behind its privatisation. Through an empirically based account of how neoliberalism has worked its way through the higher education sector in the fastest growing economy in the South Asian context, it discusses how changes have been characterised by policy reforms, massification, and a sustained friction between control and autonomy in the university sector.
The authors take a nuanced approach to their geo-political and onto-epistemological positionalities as diasporic and hybridised scholars by rejecting epistemological exclusion inherent in the colonial present and research conducted in such contexts. This position allows the reinforcement of a colonial present, theorising from within Global South decolonial and postcolonial research literature.
This book contributes to discourses of ‘globalisation from above’ and ‘globalisation from below’ and sheds light on the often-idiosyncratic ways in which higher education reform has unfolded in South Asia. It will be of interest to comparative educators and those researching higher education policy and education developments in Global South nations.
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Papers by Ariful H Kabir
The authors take a nuanced approach to their geo-political and onto-epistemological positionalities as diasporic and hybridised scholars by rejecting epistemological exclusion inherent in the colonial present and research conducted in such contexts. This position allows the reinforcement of a colonial present, theorising from within Global South decolonial and postcolonial research literature.
This book contributes to discourses of ‘globalisation from above’ and ‘globalisation from below’ and sheds light on the often-idiosyncratic ways in which higher education reform has unfolded in South Asia. It will be of interest to comparative educators and those researching higher education policy and education developments in Global South nations.