The higher education sector in the country is passing the most challenging period, University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman (Additional ) Professor Dr Muhammad Alamgir said on Sunday.

"And there is no alternative to improve the quality of higher education in the ever-changing education system," he said.

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He made the remarks while speaking as the chief guest at a views exchange program with the newly appointed teachers and officials of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Maritime University (BSMRMU), Bangladesh.

Twenty-one newly appointed teachers and officers of BSMRMU participated in the meeting.

Professor Alamgir said, “In the era of artificial intelligence, 50 percent of the traditional work will be done with artificial intelligence in the next 5 to 10 years. Unless a highly skilled workforce is created, the unemployment rate will increase.”

So, realizing the demand, changes need to be brought in the current higher education curriculum to develop manpower suitable for the future labor market, he added.

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“The work of building a teachers training academy is going on and the training program will start very soon to make teachers skilled,” he stated.

Professor Alamgir said the field of higher education in Bangladesh is very large. Now, there are more than 48 lakh students studying in 61 public and 115 private universities. “This number of students is more than the total population of many countries. So ensuring quality education is a big challenge for us now.”

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He mentioned that the 'Higher Education Acceleration and Transformation (HIT)' project is under implementation to improve the quality of higher education.