Higher Education Reformation through Teacher Education: A Case Study in Bangladesh Perspective

Abstract

<i>Teacher education is one of the key strategies to enhance higher education quality and transform from traditional education to 21<sup>st</sup>-century-oriented higher education in Bangladesh. This paper evaluates the experiences of the Post Graduate Diploma in Higher Education Teaching (PGDHET) program gained through the journey toward developing a higher education teacher professional development program and implementing it. This six-month-long program, titled Post Graduate Diploma in Higher Education Teaching (PGDHET), was launched by the Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP). The key themes and elements of this teacher education program were academic program and curriculum, teaching-learning in higher education, professional practices in higher education, the well-being of students, ICT in higher education, assessment, research, and supervision in higher education. It offered a focused pathway for quality assurance activities, which is crucial in reinforcing and strengthening a culture of quality teaching-learning in Bangladeshi universities. A comprehensive, rational approach was adopted for developing this paper. Both authors were involved in the development of this program, so their voices were considered a valuable source of data. Their journal entries and conversations with various stakeholders were the primary data collection methods, whereas an intensive review of 86 higher education teaching-learning program programs offered by 80 universities on six continents around the world was supportive of understanding the global trends in tertiary teacher education programs. The analysis revealed that developing such a comprehensive program for tertiary teacher development was not an easy task, as many issues and complexities were involved, like the duration, vision and mission, design, and assessment guidelines during the development phases. The challenges were multifaceted and multidimensional, such as fitting the program content to be applicable across the teaching disciplines and ensuring its suitability for those teaching in face-to-face, flexible, and online learning environments.</i>