Academic collaboration

     Academic collaboration with the best of universities could help improve quality , unlike direct intervention by foreign educational providers. While such collaborations have always existed, we need to increase their scope and extent in the future. As a matter of fact, efforts are being made in different parts of the country to promote collaborative learning . A large number of scholar's including some Nobel laureates have visited the universities in Bangladesh during the last two decades. Testimonies of the teachers and the visiting scholars show that the benefits have mutual. The essence of such mutually beneficial academic collaboration is partnership based on equality . It cannot be based on a relationship of superiority and inferiority . It has to recognise the kaleidoscopic character of quality in higher education and the value of mutually enriching collaborative learning processes.
     One has to look at the larger countrywide picture before alleging that the universities and colleges contribute little to the improvement of Bangladesh' s higher education what goal has been set and achieved by any of our public universities what study of basic discipline research and extension in real terms how does our rich per hectare production compare with that of other developing countries are we able to design even a passable engine for our main battle tank after spending huge money ? It is  true that quality can be ensure only through  an internal process. But in the teaching profession there is no standard means to assess this internal process and its success wholly depends on the ability of teachers. Even if we spend exorbitant sums on faculty improvement , there is no objective means of assessment to ensure that the process works. So, what is the harm in inviting foreign universities and relying on competition for quality improvement?