The Bangladesh Open University:
Mission and Promise
M. Shamsher Ali, A. K. Enamul Haque and Greville Rumble

Context:
This article describes the establishment of the Bangladesh Open University (BOU) and offers the BOU as one model for the development of distance education in developing countries.

Source:
Ali, M. Shamsher, A. K. Enamul Haque, and Greville Rumble. 1997. "The Bangladesh Open University: Mission and Promise." Open Learning 12(2): 12–17.

Copyright:
Reproduced with permission.

A particular debate in the literature on distance education is the extent to which distance education is an appropriate and effective means of assisting national development, particularly in the Third World. The 1980s and 1990s have seen numerous studies which were broadly if not highly supportive of the use of distance education to support development in the Third World. Thus Kinyenze (1988:283) holds that it has a particularly strong role to play in national development in the Third World; Casas (1988: 83, 85) sees distance education as a means of solving typical Third World problems of limited financial resource, increased demand for access to education, and the need to transform the existing system of education; Coldevin (1988:172; 1990:116) points to the role that it can play in teacher education in Third World countries; Compton and Timmons (1993: 25-7), drawing on Third World examples, point to the role it can play in rural development; Ansere speaks of the 'inevitability of distance education in Af rica' (1982: 53); Siaciwena (1988: 402) sees it as helping to overcome the serious limitations of the traditional educational system in Zambia; John (1996:3) sees distance education in sub-Saharan Africa as a response to a crisis in general education and not as an optional extra to conventional education; Gandhe (1995: 267) points to the very significant role that can be played by distance education in development in the South Asian region; Mani, speaking of India, says that distance education 'is the only model that can successfully cope with an exploding population' (1990: 129); Gao and Li (1990: 40) see it speeding up the development of China; and Anderson (1982: 71-2), while pointing to the fragility of some distance education in Latin America, felt positive about the future.

Not everyone is optimistic: Gupta (1982: 67), for example, concluded that the future of distance education in India did not seem promising; Mani (1990: 127-9), speaking from an Indian perspective, points to the problems of poor quality materials, high drop-out, postal delays, poor feedback from tutors, a lack of support systems, lack of human contact coupled with some difficulty in getting to places where students and tutors can meet, lack of study centres near students' place of residence, and student perceptions that the cost is too high; John does not hide the fact that distance education as it is now offered [in sub-Saharan Africa] suffers from the cumulative effect of infrastructural deficiencies to the point of making little impact' (1996: 7); and John (1996: 9) and Laaser (1995: 305) points to cultural difficulties arising when distance education methods are introduced into countries that emphasise communalism and the spoken word.

In 1990 Arger (1990: 9) asked whether the promise of distance education matched the reality of its application in Third World settings. Reviewing the literature produced under the auspices of the International Council for Distance Education, Arger identified (pp.10-11) the promises that distance education would:

• assist national development;
• meet the needs of the national economy;
• foster a sense of nationhood;
• promote national unity;
• reach the masses through the use of technology;
• meet a wide range of identified educational needs, both formal and non-formal;
• avoid the opportunity costs of taking people out of their normal employment for training (e.g. in in-service teacher education);
• reach large numbers (massification of education);
• help democratise education;
• raise educational standards through the use of high quality materials;
• be cost-effective and more cost-efficient than traditional educational systems.

He then goes on to argue that this promise is often not met. On the downside he identifies (pp.11-17):

• a less than clear-cut relationship between the production of skilled labour and high levels of economic development;
• failure to recruit large numbers of students or have a mass impact;
• failure to reach out beyond urban populations to the rural masses;
• poor quality teaching materials;
• lack of production capacity for print, and poor maintenance of equipment;
• the often enormous isolation between student sand teachers, and students and their peers, compounded by transportation and communication difficulties;
• students' lack of reading ability, motivation, and capacity to organise independent study—all necessary if distance education is to succeed;
• high student drop-out rates;
• lack of trained staff to support the infrastructure necessary to support distance education;
• cost-efficiency and effectiveness difficult to measure (to which one can add that some systems are clearly neither cost-effective nor cost-efficient compared with traditional systems).

Arger is not saying that distance education always fails to live up to its promise: some of the systems he describes in more detail receive his praise. Also, of course, he is not alone in drawing attention to weaknesses, as the papers by Gupta (1982), Mani (1990), Laaser (1995), and John (1996) show. Nevertheless, he was criticised by Casas, Jenkins, and Siaciwena (1990), in three separate short contributions that:

• pointed to the failure of traditional education systems to meet needs in developing countries, the use of distance methods as a solution, and the enormous potential of distance education to democratise education (Casas, p.36);
• argued the existence of a great deal of evidence that distance education has been used successfully in the Third World (Siaciwena, p.39);
• pointed out that distance education systems can be cost-effective (Casas, p.37);
• argued that, given the existence of high quality distance education systems, the failures and poor performance that Arger identifies might not arise from a weakness in distance education per se, but failure in the management of systems (Casas, p.36);
• argued the need to look for more underlying causes for failure and poor performance (Jenkins, p.38);
• argued that all too often distance education systems are underfunded (Jenkins, p.38).

In his response, Arger (1991: 54-55) acknowledged some of the successes of distance education in Third World settings, but pressed for more critical reflection on the reasons for failure and poor performance against the very high potential for success. That there is a need for critical studies is clear and, indeed, there have been a number of such studies (e.g. Guy 1992; Robinson 1995). Guy's criticism of distance education in Papua New Guinea is driven as much by an alternative vision of the role that distance education might play in development as by any view that distance education has failed to meet its currently espoused objectives. Robinson (1995: 14) echoes this viewpoint, identifying the choice facing planners in Mongolia between adopting distance education as a technical fix that replicates the 'old' authoritarian forms and values in teaching and learning, and using distance education to engage at a deeper level with the values and epistemologies implicit in open and distance learning, so that it is used as a force for change, especially to support democratic and participative approaches to teaching, learning and community development. Such ideological perspectives are, of course, very different to some of the practical concerns (for example, reliability of postal delivery) raised by Arger.

Guy rightly points to the tendency for the literature on distance education programmes to be 'stated in positivistic terms' (1992: 35). Given the vested interests of the organisations under review, the bodies funding projects, the consultants, and the researchers, this is hardly surprising. But Robinson (1995: 6), speaking of the potential for using distance education in Mongolia, rightly argues the need for planners and policy makers to be aware of the potential and limitations of distance education, and match the potential to the achievable by setting realistic goals. She points to ways in which Mongolian planners might build on current experience to develop a viable distance education system, notwithstanding the problems of infrastructure, some entrenched attitudes on the part of decision-makers, educationalists, materials developers and learners, and a lack of indigenous trained human resources (p.14).

It is against this background that we have sought to look at the promise and reality of the Bangladesh Open University.

The Bangladesh Open University

The Bangladesh Open University was formally established by Act of Parliament in October 1992 (Bangladesh Gazette 1992) following a series of studies undertaken by the United Kingdom's Overseas Development Agency (ODA) between 1987 and 1989, and by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) between 1989 and 1991. The latter series of studies resulted in a project feasibility report (1991) prepared by a firm of Indian consultants, which in turn led to securement of external funding in the form of a Special Development Fund loan of US$33.93 millions from the ADB for the establishment of a Bangladesh Open University.

The rationale for the BOU Project, spelt out in the ADB's Project Appraisal document (ADB 1992a: 1, 7-8, 9), cited the high absolute levels of poverty, the low per capita GNP, the high population growth, the low adult literacy rate, and the inability of the conventional education system to meet the country's requirements, including inadequate access in rural areas, inadequate higher and professional education and training opportunities, the poor quality of educational resources and programmes, and the lack of informal and non-formal educational opportunities. The establishment of a distance teaching university would, it was believed, help support the Government of Bangladesh's efforts to strengthen human resource development by increasing access to education and training in rural areas (including basic and secondary education and vocational training), provide higher education and professional training in selected areas, strengthening informal and nonformal educational programmes aimed at the general popula tion, and enhance the general quality and relevance of educational programmes (ADB 1992a: 15).

The conditions that gave rise to the rationale for the Project still prevail. Adult illiteracy was 65 per cent in 1990 (females, 78 per cent) (World Bank, 1994: Table 1). 1991 data shows that the primary net enrolment was 65 per cent (this indicator gives a more realistic idea of how many children in the age group are actually enrolled in school since it nets out under- and over-age children from the primary school enrolment figures). Only 19 per cent of the relevant age group was enrolled in secondary education (12 per cent for girls), and only 3 per cent (4 per cent for young women) in tertiary education. At primary school level, the teacher:pupil ratio was 1:63. India—to give a comparator—has 44 per cent of the relevant age group enrolled in secondary school (females, 32 per cent), though its teacher: pupil ratio is not much better than Bangladesh's (World Bank 1994: Table 28). With the population of Bangladesh still expanding (though at a slower rate), and estimated to reach 132 millions in 2 000 (compared with 115 millions in 1991) (World Bank 1994: Table 25), it seems likely that many if not most of the educational needs underpinning the education objectives of the Fourth Five-Year Plan (F.Y. 1990-1995) will carry over into the Fifth Five-Year Plan.

Bangladesh had already gained some experience of distance education methods through the activities of the Bangladesh Institute of Distance Education (BIDE), set up to offer a Bachelor of Education degree to teachers, but there was little likelihood that the traditional universities would take on the role of teaching external students by distance means. The only realistic option was to set up a new university to exploit distance teaching methods. Under the Bangladesh Open University Act, BIDE became part of the new University. The cost structure of distance teaching requires high investment in infrastructure and course materials' development before a single student can be enrolled. Funding agencies are naturally nervous that they may be investing in something that could prove to be very expensive, and yet fail to recruit from or meet the needs of the identified target population. To get round this problem, it is often suggested that a pilot project should be set up, both to prove the methodology and systems within the specific country context, and to provide a training test-bed for staff. But many planners involved in distance education believe that there is now sufficient evidence world-wide de as to the success of distance education systems; and that in any case the problems of scaling up from a small pilot to a large scale system are so extensive, and in themselves risk-laden, that it is better to design the system from scratch to deal with large numbers of students. Thus, while a number of small scale academic programmes might have been developed to meet the needs of particular niche markets' the expectation in Bangladesh was that BOU would from the start serve the needs of very sizeable numbers of people.

BOU's academic programmes

From the beginning, BOU was required to be more than a traditional university providing degree level opportunities to those unable to secure places in the traditional universities of Bangladesh. The 1991 feasibility report indicated that BOU's main objective should be to provide flexible and needs-based education to those unable or not willing to enter conventional educational institutions. Its planners argued that if it were to play a real role in meeting the needs of the disadvantaged sectors of society, it would have to offer a wide spectrum of non-formal educational opportunities. There was an insistence that BOU should develop both courses leading to tertiary level qualifications (diplomas, bachelor's degrees, and master's degrees), as well as non-formal courses and school equivalency courses. Thus, as well as providing routes to higher education and professional training in selected areas such as agriculture, health, teacher education, and technical and vocational education, the University was to inc rease access to education and training in rural areas in fields such as basic education, secondary education, and vocational education, strengthen informal and non-formal education programmes for the general population in areas such as environmental protection, family planning and basic skills (ADB 1992a: 15).

BOU's academic plan has gone through several revisions since the first plan was spelt out in Feasibility Study (1991). Although the 1992 Project Appraisal document had listed the program which the BOU would be expected to develop, during its development phase, one of the condition the mid-1992 Loan Agreement between Government of Bangladesh and the Asian Development Bank was that a needs assessment survey would be undertaken before any work began on the development of BOU's academic programmes. The commitment to survey needs not preclude a start on the development of academic course planning, but it did inject some uncertainty into early course development. Nevertheless, pending a needs assessment survey, the University worked on the development courses for its planned Certificate in English Language Proficiency, its Secondary School Certificate programme, and its management programmes (both Certificate and Diploma). Also, the fact that the University had taken over BIDE and existing Bachelor of Education programme meant that from 1992 the University was enrolling dents under its own name.

The needs assessment survey was undertaken during 1993 and the results published and discussed in early 1994. The survey was done by indigenous firms, each of which focused on needs in one of the administrative Division of Chittagong, Dhaka, Khuina and Barisal, Rajshashi. Opinions on likely demand for interest in a range of formal and non-formal educational programmes was sought from urban rural households, and from knowledgeable people in the community. The purpose of these surveys was to validate the demand for the courses awards which the BOU had already identified during 1992 as possible programmes, as well identify other possible programmes, and to assess the likely demand for each of these. The approach was to list various options and see which of the programmes listed gained a response. Inevitably, given this approach, the survey population given a significant lead as to what might be available able. However, there was room for those surveyed to mention any additional areas of interest some responde nts did so, though no clear signals of demand came out of the responses to this more general open ended question. The survey also sought to identify the possible characteristics of the target group (their sex, age, occupation, etc.) and some of the constraints that might hinder access to formal and non-formal programmes. It also sought to elicit views on suitable times for broadcasting- particularly in respect of BOU's planned non-formal programmes where broadcasting was to be the main means of reaching the target populations.

It is important to note that BOU sought advice on needs from two sources: a representative sample of the potential student population, and expert opinion. Information on what individuals want to study is, of course, important to have, particularly as the University will have to fund a significant proportion of its future operating costs from student fees. But individuals make decisions about their courses of study in a world of uncertainty. In full-time initial higher education, the supply of graduates in a particular subject area this year is actually dependent on decisions taken four or five years before to expand or contract courses (at the point when school leavers are considering their course options at university). High salaries and good job prospects this year will tend to attract students into a subject area. By the time those who entered newly developed courses emerge four or five years later, the labour market may have changed. The economy may have faltered; firms may no longer be recruiti ng specialists; there may be too many graduates chasing too few jobs; and salaries may begin to decline. So the market for education often fails if it is left to its own devices because the labour market signals feeding through to the demand side can be misleading (Johnes 1993: 56-60).

Given this, it is arguable that BOU should have reached its own conclusions about what it should offer. There are certainly arguments in favour of such a strategy. A need can only be established by reference to an outside standard: it cannot be validated internally. While individuals may articulate needs, they can only do so by reference to someone else or to some earlier time. One cannot know one 'needs' what one has never had or never been told about. Since one's own information may be imperfect, one has to rely on others who are able to bring to one's attention the lack of something that is available elsewhere. Given this, there is a strong argument in favour of academics, who ought to know about developments in their subject and the relationship these might have to the market, deciding what courses ought to be put on, and progressing accordingly. Unfortunately, one cannot rely on academics not to put on courses that reflect personal preoccupations rather than student needs. There is therefore a need to test academics' views on what is needed against other information on what is required.

Human Resource Planning (HRP) tries to get round these uncertainties by providing an official forecast of the economy's needs for qualified individuals in the future, comparing this with the current occupational structure less forecast losses from the labour market, to derive an estimate of the number of newly qualified entrants that will be required within each sector of the labour market. Unfortunately, there are no reliable current signals about what a country needs; and even if there were, there is no guarantee that this would match needs in five years time. The use of HRP remains controversial (Johnes 1993: 62), and in any case, is undeveloped in Bangladesh. Also, massive changes are occurring in the global labour market as 'human labour is being systematically eliminated from the production process' (Rifkin 1995: 3). Under such conditions, HRP is of dubious worth. Thus while BOU rightly sought to elicit the views of knowledgeable people in the community, this exercise too will tend to have been based on personal experience and judgement, derived from whatever context they work in, and again, their views can at best be only a partial guide to medium and longer term needs. Still, some planning is better than none. BOU is unusual among new distance teaching universities in having sought to identify needs.

The scope of the survey was constrained by the fact that BOU's planners were seeking confirmation of demand for a list of programmes that had already been written into the early planning documents, together with other programmes that might be developed in the future. The needs assessment survey demonstrated that there was a substantial demand for many of the products BOU proposed to offer, but it also suggested that there were others for which there was little demand. The formal programmes proposed in the original Project Proforma of May 1992 (ADB 1992b) and confirmed by the Needs Assessment Survey as a sound proposition were the following:

• the Secondary School Certificate;
• the Certificate in Arabic Language Proficiency;
• the Certificate in English Language Proficiency;
• the Diploma in Computer Applications;
• the Diploma in Management;
• the Bachelor of Nursing;
• the Certificate and Bachelor of Education.

All of these have been written into BOU's plans (see Table 1). The programmes for which there seemed to be insufficient demand, and which were therefore dropped, were:

• a Certificate in Mass Education (dropped altogether);
• Certificate in Electrical Wiring (dropped altotogether);
• a Certificate in Health and Family Planning (partly replaced by elements within the non-formal programme);
• a Diploma in Disaster Management (dropped altogether);
• a Diploma in Agricultural Extension (dropped altogether);
• a Diploma in Bangla Language Proficiency (dropped altogether);
• a Diploma in English Language Proficiency (though the lower level Certificate programme survived).

Finally, the survey indicated a demand for a number of specific certificate level courses in the fields of agricultural and rural development, which the University then set about planning to meet; and for a broadening of the range of management education qualifications, to embrace certificate, diploma, first degree, and master's degree levels. Overall, the survey confirmed many of the intuitive views of its early planners about the relative priorities that needed to be addressed, while at the same time leading to the abandonment of some ideas in the face of evidence that demand would be low.

The survey demonstrated that one of the constraints in Bangladesh is the shortage of places in other higher education institutions, leading to considerable levels of frustrated demand, and this explained the expressed demand for university-level studies identified by the survey. It was also clear that there was considerable demand for higher level skills and vocationally oriented courses. Apart from the changes in programmes identified above, the survey also led BOU to decide to bring forward the launch date of some of its programmes, in order to respond more quickly to those areas where demand was highest. (It was recognised that focusing on those programmes where demand was greatest would have the added benefit that income from fees would be maximised, thus helping to meet the objective of financial sustainability.) Having said that, BOU had already begun to develop some of its new programmes, so that it was able to launch the Certificate in English Language Proficiency programme in 1994, and the Seconda ry School Certificate, Certificate in Management, and Diploma in Management, in 1995.

By 1995, following discussions at Board of Governors level, the shape of BOU's planned academic programme was clear, with a range of formal and non-formal programmes identified and approved for development by the Board of Governors (see Table 1, which gives the name of the programme, its level, and the name of the school responsible for its development). A feature of its plans is the development of a 'ladder' of qualifications whereby students can easily progress from lower to higher level qualifications. Further programmes are under consideration.

Table 1. Academic and Non Formal Programmes of the Bangladesh Open Univeristy