Poor international status of our universities

This is in reference to Dr. Ahmed A. Azad's article entitled, “The question of status over academic excellence” (TDS, January 19, 2016). I wonder if the author and the rest of the nation realise that most public universities in our country do not provide regular and adequate Ph.D. fellowships. This missing ingredient is probably the most important cause of the poor international status of our universities. Other causes include lack of competitive research grants and central and coordinated laboratory facilities manned by trained and competent personnel. 

Zeba I. Seraj (Ph.D.)
Professor
Dept. of Biochem & Mol. Biol.
Dhaka University