1.0 Project Title : Higher Education Acceleration and Transformation Project (HEAT)
2.1 Sponsoring Ministry/Division : Secondary and Higher Education Division
2.2 Implementing Agency : University Grants Commission (UGC) of Bangladesh
2.3 Concerned Division of Planning Commission : Socio Economic Infrastructure Division
3.0 Objectives and targets (of Beneficiaries) of the Project:
Project Implementation Period:
1. Date of Commencement : January 2023
2. Date of Completion : June 2028
Estimated Cost of the Project and Source of Funds (Taka in Lac):
Objectives:
The main objective of the project is to carry out essential reform agendas in higher education, including digital networks and resources, innovation and patenting, quality assurance and accreditation, competitive research grants for boosting advanced research focusing on competence building in graduates for IR4 and beyond, and improvement of teaching and learning environment and practices.
The overall objectives of the project are:
To focuses on increasing graduate employability, with a particular focus on female labor force participation.
The project will strengthen women’s leadership skills, working with universities to prepare women for managerial and leadership positions.
The HEAT has a regional and global partnerships window.
The objective of the regional component is to promote a model of excellence in higher education for women. The regional window will benefit Bangladeshi women studying in women’s university and colleges through exchange programs with regional and global higher education institutions for faculty, teachers training, joint research and student scholarships.
The targets of the project:
Number of faculties from universities of Bangladesh to be directily benefited by receiving Professional Development Training: 5,000
Number of students from Bangladesh to be directly benefited: 600,000
Number of teachers to be benefited from all the participating countries: 50,000
Total Number of students to be benefited from all the participating countries: 2 million
The project will finance only the Tertiary Education Institutions of Bagladesh. Other participating countries will use their own funds when they would be ready to join.
This component focuses on formulating regional and global engagement and partnerships to address systemic issues confronting Bangladeshi higher education, including pandemic and emergency preparedness, system resilience through digitalization, and access to quality higher education for women. It is anticipated that this will support Bangladesh engage in broader regional and global partnerships and help integrate the country’s higher education system with regional and global systems.
| Sub-Component 1.1: Institutionalization of Regional and Global Partnerships and Mechanisms to Internationalize Higher Education, Building System Resilience, and Strengthening Digital Connectivity | |
| Sub-Component 1.1.1: Institutionalization of Regional and Global Partnerships and Mechanisms to Internationalize Higher Education | This sub-component will finance the strengthening of mechanisms and partnerships in higher education. Specifically, this component will finance: (i) establishing a International and Global Partnerships Desk in the Bangladesh Secondary and Higher Education Division to support regional integration efforts and global partnerships through the project; (ii) develop a White Paper on International integration in close coordination and consultations with SAARC member countries and table it for country endorsement, (iii) develop university level partnerships with high quality universities across the world in specific priority areas. |
1.1.2: Higher Education Portal with Localized Content:
| This sub-component finances the establishment and maintenance of a Higher Education Portal to be hosted by the BdREN in Bangladesh. The portal will help facilitate the mobility of international students through a ‘virtual medium’[1]. This sub-component will allow international students from participating and registered universities to take courses for credit in Bangladeshi universities. As other countries in the region and beyond agree to participate in such programs, this can be generalized to students outside their home country and home institution, and on a reciprocal basis. |
1.1.3: Emergency Response:
| This sub-component will finance the development of emergency response measures to create system resilience in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the higher education sector. This will also prepare the higher education sector for future crises, for example, climate-related events or due to conflict. The project will offer technical support to higher education institutions to implement these emergency guidelines and to establish crisis response committees at the institutional level. These guidelines once established can be used by other partners as needed. |
1.1.4: Efforts to Improve Connectivity across National
Research and Education Networks: | 1.1.4: Efforts to Improve Connectivity across National Research and Education Networks: The component will finance following key activities: (i) development of a
standard package of services that NRENs in South Asia can offer students and higher education institutions (such as, a Learning Management System, video-conferencing, data storage, and note-taking solution); (ii) work closely to support working groups of professionals in Asia-Pacific Advanced Network (APAN) and to strengthen cooperation across SAR RENs; (iii) put in place the last-mile connectivity for participating colleges, institutions and universities in Bangladesh through institutional grants; (iv) support the development and implementation of policies and strategies to ensure connectivity of the most disadvantaged students by providing means-tested access to devices and broadband access, and (v) the establishment of a 24/7 help desk to support remote teaching and learning (in alignment with the desk established under 1.1.1 and the help desk created under Sub-component 1.1.3). |
| Sub-Component 1.2 International Network of Women’s Higher Education Institutions This sub-component is supported through two distinct parts. The first part finances the construction of the academic complex for the hub of this network, the Asian University for Women (AUW), which will support capacity development objectives for all members of the network. The second part finances the creation and strengthening of the network of women higher education institutions. The AUW, an international private, not for profit, educational institution will function directly under a Performance Agreement with the University Grants Commission. | |
| Sub-component 1.2.1: AUW Academic Complex | This sub component will develop a climate resilient academic center at AUW, which will support the university to transact its core business and help meet the development objectives of the project. |
| Sub component 1.2.2: Regional Network of Women’s Universities and Colleges | The sub-component will establish a network of women’s universities and colleges in Bangladesh with three main objectives: (i) enhance access to quality women’s higher education, (ii) support the development of women leaders, and (iii) enhance female labor force participation. This capacity building effort is expected to benefit at least 20 Bangladeshi universities, pre selected by the government to participate in network activities based on their role and potential of promoting women’s education at scale[2]. The AUW is expected to be the hub for this network. |
[1] Virtual mobility means that students take courses for credit in another country than their own. Credit recognition would mean that either individual courses or entire degree programs are recognized as equivalent to regular (including face-to-face) instruction.
[2] In addition, several universities and colleges from other South Asian countries have expressed interest in joining this network as well.
This component focuses on transforming the higher education sector in Bangladesh. There are three main sub-components which support
(i) business continuity under COVID-19 and similar future shocks,
(ii) strengthening market relevance of programs, and
(iii) improving the governance and quality of the higher education sector.
| Sub-Component 2.1: Supporting Business Continuity under COVID-19 | This sub-component supports business continuity in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and to support disadvantaged students to disproportionately represent those unable to participate in any online activity. The project will strengthen the capacity of Bangladeshi universities to offer online and blended learning programs, along with increased service offers to institutions through the BdREN infrastructure. The following set of activities will be financed through this sub-component:
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| Sub-Component 2.2: Strengthening the Market Relevance of Higher Education Programs in Bangladesh | The objective of this sub-component is to enhance the quality of higher education programs through the following:
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| Sub-Component 2.3: Improving the Governance and Quality of the Higher Education Sector | The objective of this sub-component is to support activities to enhance the overall management capacity of
the higher education sector in Bangladesh. Technical assistance will be provided to support implementation of:
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The activities under this component include:
(i) project management;
(ii) monitoring and evaluation;
(iii) communication;
(iv) Technical Assistance (TA) and
(v) help create a grievance redress mechanism (GRM).
This component will allow for rapid reallocation of
project proceeds in the event of future natural or man-made disaster or crisis that has caused or is likely to imminently cause a major adverse economic and/or social impact during the life of the project.