This has produced widespread uncertainty about the purpose of universities -- and growing skepticism about their relevance. If higher education institutions wish to remain meaningful national institutions, they must break free from outdated routines and redefine their roles in ways that reflect today’s realities. On one side is society’s expectation that higher education will produce graduates who can thrive in complex, unpredictable environments. Far from being a limitation, this dual responsibility represents the defining challenge -- and opportunity -- of contemporary higher education. Only by navigating the tension between the transformational and the transactional can higher education prepare graduates for a world that changes faster than any curriculum can be rewritten.

Source: Dhaka Tribune January 12, 2026 08:25 UTC