We are living in an era characterized by unprecedented
advancement in science and technology. Not only the developed countries
but also the developing countries have been able to make significant
economic advancement with appropriate usage of technology. It is very
possible for our country to do the same. A big part of today's
generation is interested in engineering studies. If we can educate them
properly, they can contribute to building the glorious nation the
martyrs dreamed of. The universities in the country have to take on the
great responsibility of educating these youngsters. We earned our
independence through a bloody battle. Now we have to prepare ourselves
to fight a different battle to rescue our country from its present
state. Our country today is not the country the martyrs had sacrificed
their lives for but nevertheless it is us who have to work hard to
return the nations glory and leave a happy and prosperous Bangladesh
for our posterity.
At present quite a number of public and
private universities in the country are providing undergraduate
engineering degrees. There are two systems that universities follow.
One is the tri-mister system, the other the bi-semester system. Most
private universities follow the tri -mister system where there are
three, 13 week semesters in a year with no short semesters. The
bi-semester system has two 14 week semesters in a year with no short
semesters as well. The problem with bi-semester system is that students
sit for one big exam carrying 70% of the total marks. A 2 week
preparatory leave is given before it. But it is still hard to score a
good grade is such systems thus students are quite afraid of the exams
and often revolt for postponing them. So in most cases the semester
takes longer to finish and thus in the end a 4 year course often takes
up to 5-6 years! The degree earned becomes questionable and losses
credibility in the outside world. In most western countries where the
universities run under semester system there are 2 midterm exams and
one final exam. As each exam carries a small percentage of the total
grade the students are not afraid of exams even with no preparatory
leave and thus a revolt is out of the question. Also, usually there are
one or two short semesters along with the regular semesters in the
West.
We have not heard of any 13 week semesters. In our
country the students of both the systems have to acquire around 140 or
so credit hours. But in the west the minimum credit hours requirement
for undergraduate engineering degree in bi and tri semester system is
not the same. Quite naturally the credit hours for a tri semester
system are higher than a bi-semester system.
The semester system
prevailing in North America and other Western countries differ from our
system in terms of credit-hours, semester and class duration. ABET
(Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, USA) had specified
the minimum credit requirement for earning an undergraduate engineering
degree for American universities. It has also specified the minimum
number of courses to be taken. The credits and time duration of classes
are explained separately for theory and practical courses. A three
credit theory course should have three classes per week each having one
hour duration. But the private universities in our country have
scheduled two 1hour 30 minute classes for a three credit course. It is
difficult for the young undergraduate students to sit and listen to
such long lectures alternatively. ABET had decided on the three one
hour class system taking these simple facts into account. We have no
special committee to specify and regulate such things. Like in our
country, most public universities in Thailand run under bi-semester
system and most private universities under tri-mister system. But they
have a special panel of specialists to decide on credit requirements
and semester and class duration. It is time for us to create such a
committee too.
Each engineering course has a few significant
purposes. The theory and practical courses are defined keeping those
purposes in mind. Thus the courses need to be prepared and reviewed by
experts on that field. Sadly, studying the syllabus of electrical and
electronic engineering program of quite a few universities in the
country, we found out that most of the syllabuses were just a copy of
the syllabus of a well-reputed engineering university. Each university
needs to have a vision; and the syllabus should portray the vision.
Copying another university's syllabus make the university's standard of
education questionable.
Gone are the days of memorizing. Today's
engineering teaching puts emphasis on practical problem solution. The
students are encouraged to learn and use various software for
simulation and calculation. Where the West discourages its students to
memorize equations and even provide cheat sheet for easy access to
important formulas and equations our students have to jam their head
with numerous complicated equations. In America, on the first class the
teacher not only explains the course materials but also discusses the
importance and practical application of it.
The students are
given interesting assignment which they might face in their work field,
the exam questions are problem solving ones rather than derivational.
The interactive learning method enables the students to gain more
knowledge. Not only engineering subjects, the graduates need to be
properly trained in many non-engineering subjects like math, physics
and chemistry also.
There are many ongoing researches as to
how these subjects must be taught to the engineering students. Students
of engineering are taught math in a different way than the students of
pure mathematics. We should adopt those methods. English and business
communication are another two very important courses. Private
universities have started giving importance to developing students
communication skills, public universities should start doing the same
by starting preliminary foundation courses.
Evolution of
engineering is constantly gaining pace so to keep up with it the
syllabus needs to be changed regularly. The students need to learn the
usage of the new revolutionary software to help them in their work.
Unfortunately, as the syllabi of our universities have not faced much
change over the past few decades, software usage is almost nil.
If
our graduates had known how the usage of software it would've been
easier for them to get jobs in American and European companies. But
graduates of our neighboring country India are easily getting good jobs
in the big company's abroad with their communication and advanced
software usage skills.
Time has come to make ourselves known to
the international world. To introduce our engineering universities we
must first adopt modern methods of teaching and increase the quality to
education to reach the standard of the front line western universities.
Teachers must come forward to make the change. A teacher has
power to influence the students. A good teacher can create good
successful human beings out of his students while a bad teacher may
turn his students' future into a disastrous black hole. Sadly, in our
country bad teachers greatly outnumber the good ones. It is high time
for teachers to rectify themselves and start paying attention to their
primary duties. A teacher must do research, be aware of the modern
methods of teaching and be updated with advancements in their
respective fields. Along with the teachers the students must alter
their attitude as well. Student leaders are barely ever seen revolting
for modernisation of the education system; most of the time they are
involved in political activities. Casting aside such political
affiliations the student organisations need to get involved in
students' welfare politics.
To standardize our engineering
education sector we think the government should create a committee
comprising of expert and experienced professors, professional
engineers, industrialists and Bangladeshi professors teaching abroad.
The main responsibility of the committee would be to create a up to
date manual for creating the syllabus of a engineering program. It
would decide on credit hours, class and semester duration for both bi
semester and tri semester system; combine the works of BAETE (the
Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technological Education,
Bangladesh), engineering professional bodies and other organizations
for accreditation. To survive in this highly competitive world we must
develop our universities taking the western universities as models but
also keep our heritage. It is not an easy task but we have to come
forward to do it.
Source: The New Nation