UGC unveils five-year plan to build graduates' skills, with Tk 10,000 monthly internship allowance

Many young people, despite holding university degrees, are unable to acquire the skills the job market demands. To remove this gap and prepare graduates for domestic and foreign job markets, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has adopted a five-year strategic plan.

The plan gives importance to teaching a third language, compulsory internships, training for teachers, increasing opportunities to earn PhDs, and strengthening the link between university education and research and industry.

UGC Chairman Professor Dr Mamun Ahmed shared the plans on Sunday (8 November) at an exchange meeting with the vice-chancellors of 13 universities in the Chattogram region, held at a hotel in Chattogram.

At the meeting, the UGC chairman said about five million students are now studying at 180 public and private universities in the country. Although the number of universities has grown, challenges remain over students' skills and employment.

Many graduates are not getting the employment opportunities they expect because they lack the skills the job market demands, and they are also lagging behind in the international labour market, he said.

As part of the plan, teaching a third language will initially be introduced at 50 universities, and other universities will also be supported in the programme. There is also a plan to set up an international office and related centre at every university.

The UGC aims to bring students of all universities under compulsory internships within the next five years. In the three- to six-month internships, students will work at the relevant institutions and receive a monthly allowance of Tk 10,000. Half of the allowance will be paid by the government and the rest by the institution concerned. Work is under way to build an online platform to run the programme.

Training for teachers has been undertaken under the HEAT project to improve their skills, and a target has also been set to give 2,000 teachers the opportunity to earn PhDs over the next five years.

An initiative has also been taken to launch a one-year fellowship and academic career programme to attract talented Bangladeshis living abroad into teaching and research.

The UGC chairman said a funding policy is being prepared that gives priority to research that solves real problems. The commission also plans to support tuition fees for expanding PhD programmes at foreign universities.

He also said a meeting will soon be held to increase coordination in education and other activities of the medical universities.

Professor Mamun Ahmed said universities must identify their own problems and take steps to solve them, and the UGC will support efforts to remove the frustration over the quality of graduates' degrees and unemployment.

University of Chattogram Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Mohammad Al Forqan said research funds of industrial enterprises could be given to universities on a competitive basis, which would help solve the industries' problems and increase the universities' research capacity.

At the meeting, the vice-chancellors sought UGC support for a uniform grading system, guidelines for running semesters, implementation of the OBE curriculum and stronger links between education, research and industry. They also proposed opening new departments in line with job-market demand and filling vacant posts to overcome the teacher shortage.