Page 51 - EW FEB 2022

where any freshman doesn’t have any fear (of hazing) and
the cost was a life,” he says.
But according to him, this is thanks to student advocacy
following Fahad’s death rather than initiatives taken by the
university. Ganguly is unsatisfied with the lack of punish-
ment of administrators and faculty, who he says should ac-
cept responsibility for preventing the kind of violence that
led to the fatal attack. “The university for a long time lived
in blissful ignorance of what’s going on in the halls. It’s
their job to keep students safe. I think they failed horribly
in that,” he says.
Ganguly describes incidents in which students would be
taken outside for punishment, often for perceived slights
or because they held different political views. “Since resi-
dence hall corridors are all camera protected, they’d take South Korea university graduates: birth rate threat
you up on the roof… five seniors would line up 30 juniors,”
he recalls. declining enrolment.
Adnan Chowdhury, a senior and criminology student at His report, which was presented at a forum held jointly
the University of Dhaka, agrees that there should be more by the Seoul National University Institute for Social Devel-
accountability among universities for violent behaviour, opment and Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs,
but believes solutions that target the perpetrators of crimes is based on the rate of childbirth in Korea’s regions, univer-
rather than the root causes will be ineffective. Instead, he sity enrolment rates and student numbers in primary and
suggests that systemic changes are needed to solve univer- secondary education.
sity problems. For a start, he argues, student arms of politi- While academics remain divided over just how badly Ko-
cal groups should be banned from campuses. rea’s demographic crunch will hit its university sector, there
According to Chowdhury, Bangladeshi students are is broad agreement that many of the country’s universities
undeniably drivers of political action in the country — in- will be under threat. And in a nation where 70 percent of
cluding in Bangladesh’s fight for self-determination in 1971. students already pursue higher education, boosting enrol-
Nevertheless, student groups affiliated with larger political ment is a formidable challenge. Prof. Lee predicts that the
organisations should not have a place at universities. coming years will generate “fierce competition” for full-time
But even at BUET, which for now is managing to stay free academic positions and “unfair recruitment of part-time
of violence, Ganguly says it is uncertain how long student professors,” by universities.
culture will remain free from hazing. “I’m afraid it can re- Stuart Gietel-Basten, professor of social science and
turn any time — what’s stopping it from returning unless public policy at the Hong Kong University of Science and
there are additional steps taken?” he asks. Technology and an expert in Asian demography, says that
many universities, particularly in the regions won’t be able
SOUTH KOREA to stave off closure. He likens the process to industrial de-
Grim prediction cline in former boom towns: “It’s like car factories in Detroit
— there was nothing there before, then they built all these
NEARLY HALF OF SOUTH KOREA’S universities factories, then they closed down.”
could close in the next quarter-century as the coun- But John Lie, professor of sociology at the University
try’s population continues to shrink, with regional of California, Berkeley, expresses confidence that Koreans’
institutions especially hard hit, a respected academic warns. appetite for higher education will buffer the outcome for
Dong-Kyu Lee, professor of disaster management at universities. “South Koreans are unlikely to recuperate fully
Dong-A University, says he expects only 190 out of 385 from the diploma disease: the desire for education creden-
existing universities to survive the next 25 years. Outside tials. This is true not just for students and their parents, but
Seoul which hosts Korea’s most prestigious higher educa- also employers, both private and public,” he says.
tion institutions, a mere 44 percent of universities are ex- Therefore, he takes these grim predictions with a grain
pected to remain open, compared with 80 percent in the of salt. “Although there are many mediocre universities in
capital. South Korea, it’s very unlikely that close to half will close
Contracting demographics have already forced some in 25 years, barring a major catastrophe. The prognostica-
universities to close, particularly outside Seoul. “At pres- tion is from one academic study, and vatic pronouncements
ent, I think there is no hope for parochial universities,” says from academics rarely come true,” he says.
Prof. Lee, adding that these institutions are nearly “100 per- (Excerpted and adapted from The Economist and Times
cent dependent on college tuition” and deeply vulnerable to Higher Education)

FEBRUARY 2022 EDUCATIONWORLD 51