Poorly maintained website tarnishes JU's image

When the government aspires to digitalising all the sectors including education, many of the country's educational institutions are still lagging behind the race. Jahangirnagar University (JU), one of the largest public universities with lush green surroundings, stands as an example.

The authorities seem oblivious of updating the university's website meant to constantly feed prospective students, both domestic and international, with detailed information about research, academic programmes, syllabi, and teachers. Now, hardly will one find any information visiting the site since it is not updated even though every year around Tk 50,000 is spent as maintenance cost, according to sources at JU Internet Management Centre (IMC).

The sources said the website falls short of offering adequate information owning mainly to the teachers' reluctance to updating their profiles, adding that those entrusted with maintaining the site lacks necessary expertise. 

A teacher of computer science and technology, preferring to be anonymous, said it is because the website is not updated that JU stands lower in the global ranking.

"Because of its poor ranking, foreign universities are less interested in collaborative work with our university," he added.

"An updated description online, including of research, helps ensure transparency," the teacher opined.

After visiting, it was found that the site (www.juniv.edu) still carries two outdated lists of previous syndicate and senate members and shows the number of dormitories as 13, whereas the university does have 15 dormitories.

Also, many other sections including extracurricular activities, research and publications lie bare.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the poor maintenance, Robiul Islam, a second year student of Bangla, recently told The Daily Star that the website is one of the factors responsible for the university's degrading reputation since it brings no benefits to visitors.

The poorly designed, non-interactive site often provides misleading information, he added.

Moreover, it was found that only 28 out of 146 teachers of five departments including computer science and engineering (CSE) updated their profiles.

Asked, IMC Director Sharif Uddin said they would shortly recruit an expert for modernising and monitoring the site.

"All the teachers were given ID and password. They can update  their profiles on their own. But most of them do not bother to do this," added Sharif, a professor of CSE.

 Admitting the poor maintenance, JU Treasurer Prof Abul Khair said to have sanctioned a project to update the site with useful information.

He also urged the teachers to update their respective profiles.