Policy Responses To Covid-19 Pandemic In Higher Education Governance Of Bangladesh

Abstract

This paper studies policy responses of Bangladesh in university governance during rapid dissemination of the covid-19 pandemic. The aim is to find legal issues of emergency management in higher education to map the responses among government, universities and students and thus to ascertain the policy implications of these responses for university governance in new normal. This paper studied on data points from the public announcements of government and institutions, and identified the higher education (HE) policy priorities under the framework of real time policy evaluation using qualitative approach of content analysis, to consider the comprehended impact of policies. Findings reveals the policy priorities on health of different stakeholders, technical support for online learning from HE governance, and variance of responses for adaptability in higher education. Additionally, the study found the enormous anxiety and uncertainty in university admission and inequality in higher education sector during the pandemic. As the integrity of HE is crucial for sustainable development, hence the ad hoc policy making under the crisis needs a harmonization. Besides the paper focuses on the emergence of a legal framework to deal the crisis as an opportunity to digitalize the HE sector through blended learning method after the covid-19 era.