18/11/2024
I wanted to post this in the Private University Students Alliance of Bangladesh (PUSAB) group, but the post has not been approved:
āIf you find this post irrelevant, just skip it. But those of you who are interested in the quality of higher education in Bangladesh, keep reading.
Every day I see it on the social media how some people are throwing around the various names of their candidates for different positions in higher education or related to higher education. The point Iām trying to make here is that these should not be a matter of opinion or a personal preference (either on religious grounds or the old boysā network); rather, it should be criterion-based.
So what are some of the commonly used criteria for assessing candidates for the highest positions in higher education in developing countries, which are striving to achieve good quality of education? They are: the length of experience, teaching experience, research experience, international experience, academic administration experience, academic credentials (masterās and Ph.D. degrees), international reputation of the employing universities, publications and citations, and the overall career path.
While these are all very important, the criterion frequently overlooked in Bangladeshi settings is the number of citations. This criterion tells us whether a particular researcherās work is fruitful or barren, as it shows how many times a particular research publication has been used by other authors in their research. You can publish an article in a top journal, but if no one, or only a very few people, are subsequently using it in their own research and publication, that means that your work had no impact. I know that Iām beating my own drum here, but I will give you an example of my own. In 2002, I published an article with my colleagues Michelle Duffy and Daniel Ganster in a prestigious Academy of Management Journal. Our article has been cited by 2423 other research publications since then, adding substantially to my 8066 current citations. On the other hand, there are many ā prominentā scholars in Bangladesh, whose research work over decades has produced just a few dozens of citations, less then a number of citations of a decent university lecturer. And please, donāt use Bangladeshis situation as an excuse. There are scholars in Bangladesh with a far higher number of citations than my own.
So next time you are proposing or evaluating different names for positions related to higher education, use the proper criteria and do your homework first.ā
