too many degrees, too few jobs

Published on: July 3, 2026

In current context of Bangladesh, unemployment among the highly educated specially varsity graduate is a serious problem and national crisis. Although thousands of students complete their undergraduate and postgraduate studies at public universities every year and enter the job market, a significant gap stays between their skills and market demands. Public universities have historically played a significant role in the expansion of education in the country but the current proliferation of general degrees based solely on theoretical knowledge is exacerbating educated unemployment in the long run. Accepting this reality, there are several compelling arguments and policy advantages behind reducing the number of conventional public universities and encouraging private sector initiatives.

As Bangladesh has limited resources, Moving away from this traditional model of education has become an imperative for maximizing the utilization. One of the core arguments in favor of reducing the number of public universities and increasing private ones is the adoption of market oriented curricula and the capacity for rapid adaptation. Private universities are far more responsive to the demands of the job market to ensure their own survival. On the other hand, in public universities updating the syllabus is a time consuming process due to bureaucratic issues.

In public universities, thousands of students are taught subjects that have no direct economic or practical application in the current job market. Reducing these subsidies would prevent a massive waste of public funds. Since private universities rely on student tuition fees, there is an by default pressure on them to maintain quality. High employment rates among alumni enhance their reputation, effectively compelling them to provide skill-based education to students. As this model typically avoids session jams, students can launch their careers at a young age.

Through the restructuring of public universities, the outcome has been to decrease or eliminate structural unemployment from the education system. When the two countries changed their education system from a degree-based model to a market-based model, they now have an education system that turns out individuals who are ready for the job market. This change will lead to a significant decrease in the number of people with an education but no jobs.

Rather than shutting down the public university system completely, the existing infrastructure found at public universities could be converted into profit-generating businesses. Instead of producing many graduates from public universities, public universities could become centres of research or ‘think tanks’ that generate research pertaining to specific areas of study. Instead of giving degrees to all students that meet the minimum requirements, the public universities could become centres of research or ‘think tanks’ that produce research related to specific areas of study. Researchers would be responsible for providing direction to state policy through their research in specific areas such as climate change, renewable energy and global political issues.

In place of public universities that offer a general education or training would now be polytechnic or advanced vocational training centres, resulting in students obtaining two to three year, industry specific diplomas in a wide variety of occupations (example: automotive engineering, nursing, etc.). Like developed nations, they would also transition into “community colleges” that provide short-term training based on the needs of the local community.

In conclusion, there is a need to move away from the existing academic system and to build a skills-oriented education framework instead of producing unemployed graduates through a predominantly theoretical education system. This change is not just a mechanism of reducing unemployment but a future oriented policy agenda for sustainable national development. If this transformation is done effectively, the young population of Bangladesh will be able to transform from a burden to the main driving force in the formation of a prosperous, self reliant and developed nation.