Strengthening research in science and engineering in the post-LDC era

Bangladesh is on its way to graduate from the Least Developed Country (LDC) status. However, to become a prosperous nation, it must adopt new strategies for accelerated economic growth. Conventional factors of production cannot provide the required growth rate to achieve the targets. Postgraduate education affects Total Factor Productivity (TFP), the portion of economic growth driven by technological innovation. Bangladesh needs to adopt a growth strategy powered by technological innovation, and to become a technology innovator, this nation needs a critical mass of talent in science and engineering trained at the postgraduate level.

Undergraduate education primarily focuses on disseminating knowledge to students. But postgraduate education involves creating new knowledge through research and disseminating advanced knowledge. Postgraduate students research at the frontiers of knowledge.  They write theses that contain newly created knowledge that can lead to innovation. The benefits of postgraduate education are manifold. It prepares professionals to adopt, adapt, and assimilate advanced technology, manage high-tech projects, and develop national policies. Master’s and PhD graduates, while working on their theses, can concentrate on problems of national interest and generate indigenous solutions. For Bangladesh to become a “technology producer” rather than a “technology consumer”, it should depend on postgraduate education as a primary mechanism.

Higher PhD density represents the depth of the talent base and the intellectual capability of a country. Intense knowledge-based economies like Switzerland and Nordic countries have a PhD density of over 10,000 per million. Other advanced countries—the US, UK, Germany—have PhD densities of 3,500-6,000.  The PhD density in countries like China, India, and Brazil is 200-1,000.  In countries with high PhD density, the degree holders work not only in laboratories but also in areas like policymaking, management and marketing, in the public and private sectors. This helps raise the IQ of the entire economy. Countries like China, Malaysia and Vietnam have set targets to increase their PhD density.   

At this juncture, the new government should establish a strong postgraduate education and research base in science and engineering. To achieve this, the government should convert a few top-performing universities into research universities, which will put emphasis on postgraduate education and research as the primary objective, and act as national problem-solving hubs. The government should establish them with clear mandates, set key performance indicators, provide them with incentives and adequate funds to build a strong research infrastructure.

Research universities must focus on research topics related to the vital needs of the critical sectors of the national economy.  For example, topics for postgraduate research can be on circular economy centred around garments and textiles, development of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) for our pharmaceutical sector, creation of our own Bangla GPT, precision agriculture, climate change mitigation technologies, etc.

Universities must target the highest global academic standards, while finding solutions to national problems. There must not be any compromise on quality for the sake of quantity.  Strict quality control measures, regular monitoring, and provision of appointments of international experts as PhD examiners must be in place.  Quality issues must be fixed at the initial stage, which is critical to sustaining quality and ensuring ethical practice.

The success of converting postgraduate research into innovative solutions crucially depends on effective industry-academia collaboration.  In the context of postgraduate education, industry should share its problems with academics so that these can be adopted as research topics for master’s and PhD theses.  The university should initiate innovative industry-focused postgraduate programmes, like industrial PhD and industrial master’s degrees. Qualified industry experts can become co-supervisors or expert members of thesis committees. The synergy between academia and industry must be facilitated by the government.

We must attract meritorious students into postgraduate programmes with adequate incentives. The nation must create the right environment where these highly qualified professionals can contribute to nation-building.  There are many ways postgraduate degree holders can be fruitfully employed.  Our industry should employ these high-calibre professionals to innovate and contribute to their growth.  Big business groups should create sections like R&D, design, policy, which will be manned by PhD graduates.  If done properly, this will reduce our dependence on foreign professionals in the long run.  A higher number of qualified postgraduates can boost the confidence of investors and attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).  The government must play a supportive role by providing the industry with adequate incentives, like tax holidays.

The government should also employ PhD-level professionals in increasing numbers in schemes like specialised scientific civil services and integrated advisory cadres. By doing so it can transform administration into knowledge-driven governance. Variations of such schemes exist in advanced economies like the US, the EU, etc. Government agencies with technical functions must recruit postgraduate degree holders, particularly PhD graduates in science and engineering.

As Bangladesh graduates from the LDC status, it must adopt technological innovation as a vital economic growth strategy. To achieve this, Bangladesh needs a critical mass of talent. Master’s and PhD students in science and engineering will research national problems and generate indigenous solutions, leading to technological innovation. Increasing the number of well-trained postgraduates is a strategic necessity, not a luxury, to maintain economic momentum.  The nation must create the right environment in which these highly qualified professionals can be meaningfully employed to contribute to nation-building. 

Dr A.S.M.A. Haseeb is dean of the Faculty of Postgraduate Studies and professor of nanomaterials and ceramic engineering at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).

Views expressed in this article are the author's own. 

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