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Quality of Higher Education in Agriculture in Bangladesh as Perceived by Students, Teachers and Mid-level Personnel

M.K. Hasan
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, Patuakhali Science and Technology University, Dumki

M.A.M. Miah
Professor
Dept. of Agricultural Extension Education, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh

M.A. Sarker
Associate Professor
Dept. of Agricultural Extension Education, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

The purpose of this study was to explore the quality and different aspects of higher education in agriculture in Bangladesh as perceived by the students, teachers and midlevel personnel. Necessary information were obtained from students, teachers and mid-level personnel of educational, research and extension organizations during March to August 2007. It was found that overall quality of higher education in agricultural was quiet satisfactory as opined by most of the respondents. The students of different universities spent more time in academic than that of non-academic purpose. Very small portion of students were highly studios. Bangladesh Agricultural University had the highest quality of agricultural education and its quality was significantly higher than that of Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University. Existing learning facilities, teaching performance of the teachers and job performance of the students were satisfactory. Great majority of the students were happy with the existing course curricula. Classmate cooperation, residential facilities of the students, internet, availability of newspaper/TV and social relationship among the students were the top five influential factors affecting learning environment of the universities. Therefore, concerned universities and University Grants Commission can extend their endeavor towards the improvement of higher agricultural education through developing the pertinent factors.

Keywords: Quality of higher education, Study behavior, Teaching performance, Course satisfaction

Location: Five universities of Bangladesh offering higher education in agriculture, namely Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University (BSMRAU), Shere-Bangla Agricultural University (SAU), Patuakhali Science and Technology University (PSTU) and Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University (HSTU).

Start Date: 00-03-2007

End Date: 00-08-2007

Program Area: Knowledge Management

Commodity: Study, Agriculture

Objectives:

Thus, the situation demands undertaking a study with a view to fulfill the following specific objectives: to explore the quality of higher education in agriculture in Bangladesh as perceived by the students, teachers and mid-level personnel; to determine the study behavior of the students of different agricultural universities; to assess different aspects of quality of higher education, namely existing learning facilities of different agricultural universities, teaching performance of the teachers as perceived by the students, course satisfaction by the students of agricultural universities and performance of agricultural graduates working in different development organizations; and to find out the factors influencing the learning environment of the university.

Methodology:

The study was carried out in five universities of Bangladesh offering higher education in agriculture, namely Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University (BSMRAU), Shere-Bangla Agricultural University (SAU), Patuakhali Science and Technology University (PSTU) and Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University (HSTU). The undergraduate (level 3, level 4) and graduate students of different faculties and departments of the selected universities were the population of the study. Among them 350 students (195 from BAU, 35 from BSMRAU, 50 from SAU, 35 from PSTU and 35 from HSTU) were randomly selected as the sample of the study. Besides, 80 teachers of the five universities and 35 mid-level officers of Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA) and Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI) were also randomly selected for obtaining information regarding quality of higher education. Structured and pre-tested interview schedule was constructed to collect information from the students. However, checklists were used to collect information related to the performance of the students as perceived by the teachers and job performance of the agricultural graduates as perceived by the mid-level personnel.

Quality of higher education was the prime query of this study. Quality of higher education was defined as the status of existing standard of higher education as perceived by the teachers, students and midlevel personnel of different educational, research and extension organizations. In this study, quality of higher agricultural education referred to the extent to which it is standard as compared to that of other fields of study, how it can fulfill the national demand and whether the qualities of agricultural universities and graduates are standard. To measure the quality of higher education, a 5-point rating scale was constructed with 12 positive statements regarding various elements of quality of higher education. Respondents were asked to opine their extent of agreement with the statements. Scores were assigned as 1 for strongly disagree, 2 for disagree, 3 for no opinion, 4 for agree and 5 for strongly agree. Total score of a respondent for this variable could range from 12 to 60, where 12 indicated very unsatisfactory quality, 60 indicated very satisfactory quality of higher education and 36 was the neutral point in the scale.

In order to find out the factors influencing the learning environment, at first factors were sought through experts’ opinion and finally 20 factors were included in the interview schedule. Extent of influence of the factors on the learning environment was determined by seeking responses from the students based on a 4-point rating scale as 0 for no, 1 for low, 2 for medium and 3 for high influence of the factors to the learning environment of the university. Data were collected during March to August 2007. Descriptive statistics such as, frequency, range, mean, percentage and standard deviation were used to describe the data. In order to make a comparison among the universities concerning the quality of higher education Duncan’s new multiple range test (DMRT) was carried out.

Source of Information: Bangladesh Journal of Extension Education Volume 23, No. 1&2, 2011:17-27 ISSN 1011-3916

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

Quality of higher education in agriculture in Bangladesh was satisfactory as perceived by majority of the students, teachers and midlevel personnel of different related organizations. Still there were substantial portions of the respondents who possessed unsatisfactory view about the quality of higher education. Therefore, the quality of higher education urges for its further improvement. It was found that BAU had the highest quality of agricultural education. So, other universities can follow the overall educational system of BAU. Less studious students have to be identified and they can be motivated towards learning by counseling. Greater scopes are available for improving the status of learning facilities through upgrading the course curricula, facilities of classroom, practical field, laboratory, library etc. Teaching performance of the teachers needs to be enhanced through foundation training and enhancing intercommunication among the teachers of different universities. Most of the teachers opined that the performance of the students in the class was good, not excellent. In order to get excellent performance of the students, their study behavior, involvement in drug addiction and destructive political activities should be handled carefully. Job performance of agricultural graduates can be enhanced through improving the quality of education having prior consultation with the service providers in the field of agriculture. Attention must be paid to keep the highly influential factors of learning environment at desirable level. Such factors include classmate cooperation, residential facilities of the students, internet facilities, availability of newspaper/TV, social relationship among the students etc. However, this study was a preliminary attempt to explore the quality of higher agricultural education in Bangladesh. Therefore, concerned universities and University Grants Commission of Bangladesh have to extend their further endeavor towards the improvement of quality of higher education in agriculture through research as well as the implementation of the recommendations.

Knowledge Management: Journal