CETL
Date
Sunday 04 December 2016 to Monday 05 December 2016

The British Council and BRAC University in collaboration with University Grants Commission (UGC) organised a workshop from 4 to 5 December 2016 at BRAC University and the British Council Dhaka University campus office respectively on ‘Developing the quality of teaching in Bangladesh Higher Education.’ 

The objective of the workshop was to introduce a new certification course that focuses on the Excellence in Teaching and Learning in six public universities (Dhaka, Khulna, Rajshahi, Chittagong, Mymensingh and Jahangir Nagar), with BRAC being the only private university working as our resource partner.  The first phase of CETL (Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning) has ended by establishing the importance of the Teaching and Learning concept in the Higher Education (HE). The second phase of CETL has kicked off with universities implementing their planned set of activities. 

The British Council is trying to induce a professional standards framework into the current CETL operational model. Participants from both public and private universities have shared their views on collaborating on an open platform and involved into brainstorming sessions to raise the importance and expressed a necessity of having a nationally accredited certification course. The outcome of the workshop was to establish a nationally recognised certificate programme in academic practice which was desired during the workshop and seen as a medium-term goal for the CETL units. One of the learning outcomes during the workshop was to understand the developments of few universities were better than others. A close collaboration with the IQACs (Internal Quality Assurance Cells) was a critical success factor, not only in terms of managing operational costs but also in terms of strategic value and implementation effectiveness. 

The session was opened by Professor Abdul Mannan, UGC Chair, Professor Saad Andaleeb, Vice Chancellor, BRAC University and Jim Scarth, Deputy Director, British Council, Bangladesh. Participants from both public and private universities shared their views on collaborating on an open platform and involved into brainstorming sessions to raise the importance and necessity of having a nationally accredited certification course that is ‘professionally practised’.  

By the end of the second day, all universities have agreed mutually that the public and private CETLs will work together as an association to support each other's development- which was a major achievement.