Why do we still look down on private university students?

Résumé détaillé

Bangladesh's private university students face persistent stigma despite expanding access, improving academic standards and diverse student achievements.

Naturally, for our school and college graduates, getting into a public university is not solely about securing a place for four to five years; it also enhances their social standing, public approval, academic validation and family honour. From the moment a child is born, parents start dreaming of sending them to a prestigious public medical college or engineering university. However, compared with the total number of admission candidates each year, the number of seats available at public universities is considerably lower.

In 2025, a total of 726,960 students successfully passed the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinations; however, according to the University Grants Commission (UGC) Annual Report 2023, only 55,455 seats were available for first-year students at public universities, including government medical and dental colleges. A significant number of admission-seekers who fail to secure places at any of these institutions usually turn their hopes towards the country’s private universities.

Unfortunately, in Bangladesh’s socio-cultural landscape, which is largely dominated by the perception that only the most brilliant students are selected by public universities, private university students often face undue social stigma. They are frequently labelled as the “leftovers”, implying that they ended up there only after failing public university admission tests. Many other labels, born out of the deeply institutionalised hierarchy between public and private higher education, continue to follow private university students throughout their lives.

Some of these labels are academic or merit-based, such as ‘Public-Chut’ (someone who dropped out of or failed to make the cut at public universities), ‘Second-Class/Sub-Par Citizens of Education’ (implying that private university education is merely second-rate) and ‘Certificate Buyers’ (portraying private universities as corporate businesses where wealthy families pay to buy certificates for their children).

The…

Début de l'article, extrait de The Daily Star. Pour lire la suite, ouvrez l'article chez le média.