Dhaka University (DU) didn’t make it to the UK-based magazine Times Higher Education’s rankings of top universities in Asia as it did not “meet their financial demands”, claimed DU Business Faculty Dean Shibli Rubaiyat-ul Islam.
His remarks came while speaking at a discussion in London organized by the DU alumni on Friday (May 17).
Times Higher Education published a list of 417 best universities in Asia after based on a survey factoring teaching, research, exchange of knowledge and international view-point.
Based on the survey, 72 universities from China, 49 from India, 32 from Taiwan, nine from Pakistan and six universities from Hong Kong made it to the list, while not a single Bangladeshi university was included.
Shibli claimed that the survey organisation demanded £ 42,000 (approx $54,000) and another £ 15,000 (approx $18,000) yearly charge to include them in the list.
“As the university authorities were more inclined to spending funds for research their proposals were declined and hence it didn’t make it to the ranking,” he said.
According to Shibli, that there were no questions regarding DU’s teaching, research, exchange of knowledge and international viewpoint.
“Dhaka University isn’t a commercial institution. The students want to take admission in the competitive tests themselves,” he said.
He added that DU doesn’t need rankings to attract students and hence the university authorities didn’t take the proposal into consideration.
He, however, assured that since rankings do matter in the international arena, the university will allocate a budget for that purpose.