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University culture and its reputation

Hafiz G. A. Siddiqi
IN this article, the concept of culture portrays the special group behaviour related to private universities in Bangladesh. The culture of a university consists of habits of the people who work for it — top administrators, professors, researchers, students etc. — and the way they generally behave when dealing with matters related to the university. University cultures, like that of any other organisation, are identifiable as a whole or by groups. However, all cultures are not necessarily helpful for a university, that is, they may not help it become a world class university. Therefore, the university leadership occasionally needs to develop new culture of working together to achieve organisational goals. In this article we focus on culture as it is related to a university's reputation.
Each university has its own a mix of culture, which changes over time through the influence of individual cultures. Culture has many ramifications. Here we limit it to only shared goals, similar commitment, similar behaviour, etc., of individuals belonging to a group or organisation. The efficiency of a university tends to peak when organisational goals and those of the founders, faculty, administrative staff and students converge. Such convergence means that the majority of stakeholders work with full dedication to achieve organisational (university) goals. The behaviour of each stakeholder contributes to the shared goals, creating a culture of making unified efforts to achieve common vision and mission of the university.
To keep this culture functioning, the leadership of the university motivates all concerned to make sustained efforts to achieve university goals in conformity with its vision and mission. A significant majority of the group members believe that if the university goes up they go up, and if the university goes down they go down. This belief works as a driving force. It is desirable to promote and maintain such converging culture that helps institutionalise good governance. Culture of good governance leads institutionalisation of the culture of best management practices, which in turn increases overall operational efficiency of the uni-
versity. The best managed university gains high reputation.
Professionalising management style must become an organisation's culture. In this culture, individuals involved in decision making are detached from personal prejudices and favouritism. For example, while recruiting professors /researchers or employees, meritocracy and demonstrated achievements should be the major criteria for measuring the competency of the candidates. The candidate's personal relationship with the Selection Committee or his/her family status or political connection is not allowed to influence the decision.
If this is the regular process, meritocracy becomes a culture of recruitment at the university. In the long run, the university will be staffed with high-profile scholars, professors, and administrators. If the university can develop or change to such culture it will become a centre of excellence. By implication, its reputation will go up.
Culture of admitting quality students prevails when all teachers and administrators including vice chancellor are against admission of any candidate who does not meet the admission requirements. This culture increases reputation of the university. The brighter the students, the higher the reputation. Currently, most private universities admit scores of candidates who failed in admission test, for revenue consideration. In Bangladeshi culture parents take it for granted that they would somehow be able to get their disqualified wards admitted at some private university. The reputation of the university that admits disqualified candidates is seriously damaged.
Some Bangladeshi private universities are more than 20 year old. It is time forthem to graduate to Research University, that is, to give higher emphasis on research, expand research facilities and research grants, and hire high powered internationally known research professors for increasing number of disciplines. Besides, the university must attract promising brilliant students capable of undertaking basic research.
Research universities with Ph. D. programmes are much more prestigious. Every student, professor and scholar takes special pride in getting engaged in research to create and disseminate
knowledge. A significant majority of them are committed to the research-oriented shared goals. A culture of research permeates through the corridors of research laboratories. When such a mix of internationally reputable scholars and researchers work together to reach shared goals, the university's reputation goes up.
Quality assurance is a buzzword in almost all discussions on private universities of Bangladesh. It is rightly so. All available resources need to be mobilised to improve the quality of education imparted by most of the private universities. All stakeholders, including the government and UGC, see a need to improve the quality of education. The Private University Act 2010 has therefore mandated the establishment of an Accreditation Council with a view to raising the standard of private universities.
Raising academic standard of a university is possible if, and only if, the majority of the members of the faculty - senior and junior — scholars, researchers, teachers, and senior administrators including the vice chancellor believe it is to their advantage to raise the standard of the university. If they sincerely believe that their interest and university interest coincide, it eventually becomes a culture of the university; consequently, they make unified efforts for quality assurance. Such shared values and belief will work as a driving force.
A university with such a culture complies with the Private University Act 2010 and in turn establishes "Quality Cell" and motivates all members of the Quality Cell to develop a culture of self-assessment — a prelude to earning accreditation by a reputable accreditation agency. The culture of self-assessment will help the university find its strengths and weaknesses, and enable it to improve the quality of its education, leading to higher reputation.
There are many other cultures that tend to contribute to the university's reputation. For example, culture of zero tolerance to corruption. There are additional helpful cultures; but they are not discussed here.
The writer is Professor Emeritus, Brae University. E-mail: hafiz.siddiqi91@gmail.com