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A home away from home
While the notion of Bangladeshi students heading for foreign shores to complete higher education may seem a common phenomenon, the fact that many foreign students aspire to acquire their education here does not always invoke a similar level of attention. Nonetheless Bangladeshi institutions do provide a viable proposition in terms of cost effectiveness and maintaining a decent standard
of education for its international applicants. Sharmin Chowdhury and Dyuti Monishita talk to some of these international students who share some of their experiences and thoughts on the education and culture
It was with quite a lot of difficulty that Adil Amin paid heed to the thought of completing his higher education in Bangladesh. And upon his arrival, the idea of fleeing back to Mogadishu, his hometown in Somalia, had occurred to him on many an occasion.
Such ill-feelings were further aggravated upon his first exposure to the local culture and all that it entailed for unsettled foreigners, when only two weeks into his stay, he was duped into paying over the odds for an ordinary calculator.
‘What happened was, I went to Nilkhet to buy a calculator and the shopkeeper had asked for Tk 3000 for the calculator I chose,’ explains Adil.
Adil put his bargaining skills to use and was ready to pay a seemingly more reasonable amount of Tk 2000 but the uncompromising insistence of the shopkeeper forced his hands into paying Tk 2500.
‘I was happy with what seemed to me like an accomplishment, but that feeling was short-lived as a Bangladeshi friend of mine soon told me that he could buy five calculators with that amount of money!
‘It feels silly now but at that time I was really heartbroken,’ Adil confesses.
Faizan Maqbul, a Pakistani student in Bangladesh, experienced something of a culture shock similar to Adil’s, but only this time involving public transport drivers and not shopkeepers, who often charged him more than the actual fare.
Even though Faizan hardly looks anything like a foreigner, it was his dialect - a mixture of Urdu and English - that landed him in trouble with the conniving drivers. However, as he gained a better grasp on Bangla, such problems have more or less been put to bed.
For Faizan, it did not prove too difficult to acclimatise as his culture did not differ greatly with the Bangladeshi culture but being a Pakistani, he was on the receiving end of taunts and verbal abuse from his peers at the beginning.
Following his initial experiences, Adil was convinced that he was not carved out for studying in Bangladesh and immediately called his father, who had completed his graduation in a foreign country (Russia), to arrange for his departure.
‘My father suggested that I grow a little bit of patience and pointed out that it was only natural to face such difficulties in a foreign land,’ says Adil. And with the passage of time and the patience it breeds, he ends up conceding that the country where he has spent over five years so far has undeniably become a part of his life.
‘Before coming to Bangladesh, I had very little knowledge of the country and was under the impression that it was situated somewhere in India,’ says Adil.
‘But with that confusion along with any other lingering doubts having been cleared up, I can safely say that Bangladesh is like a second home to me,’ adds Adil with a smile of approval.
Every year a number of foreign students like Adil and Faizan, come to Bangladesh for higher studies. As we are used to seeing Bangladeshis leaving the country for better quality education abroad, it is sure to invoke curiosity among many as to what it is that attracts these foreign students to want to study here.
Most of the students tell New Age that they come for an education here due to the reasonably low costs of studying. A large number of students apply for scholarships in different institutions here and upon receiving the scholarship, further cutting their expenses, they come to complete their graduation here.
In terms of enrollment, medical colleges are a popular choice among a very large number of foreign students. Apart from being comparatively cheaper than the ones in their native lands, a few students admit that they come here since they are unable to withstand the competition in the medical colleges back home. Some also attribute the availability of a wider range of options and better subjects by the medical colleges as compared to countries like Nepal or Pakistan, to justify studying in Bangladesh.
Faizan, who gained admission at Dhaka Dental College says, ‘In my country, it is very difficult to get into the medical colleges as a huge competition for places exists.’
‘I considered studying in Bangladesh mainly because I could apply for a scholarship here while this is also a Muslim country like mine and such factors added up, convinced me to come here.’
Students from Nepal, Pakistan, Kashmir and the likes are more or less satisfied with the quality of education here, deeming it ‘quite similar’ to the quality of education in their native lands. Moreover, it is also easier for them to cope with the lifestyle here as they believe that Bangladeshi culture is not too different from their own.
On the other hand, Adil who has completed his undergraduation from IUT Chittagong and post-graduation from a private University in Dhaka, says that the education quality is not that impressive here.
He complains that while doing his post-graduation research, his supervisor did not afford him enough time as he was busy due to his teaching affiliations with other institutes.
‘My professor, who worked in four or five different places, could not provide me much time. Had he been a little more available, I could have done my research in a much better manner, as I was obviously not very happy with that,’ says Adil.
While the quality of education here is open for debate among foreign students, with many having come to Bangladesh for its cost effective nature in terms of education, a Turkish student offers a radically different and surprising perspective of things.
Abdul Kadir, a third year student of the department of English at Dhaka University, says, ‘people in my country consider Dhaka University’s English Department to be in the same league as Oxford or Harvard.
‘Every year at least ten to thirteen people from my country come for admission at the department.’
Abdul explains that in Turkey, people hardly speak English, while in Bangladesh you can at least communicate with fragments of English words. There is no environment to help one learn the language and use it to practice, but of course there is a big market for English graduates back home.
India could have been a better option as it could be argued that the standard there is higher but the pulling factor here is the familiar Muslim culture that exists in both Turkey and Bangladesh.
Abdul has been living here since 2005 while his brother has been living in Bangladesh for the best part of ten years and is currently holding a job here. Subsequently, Abdul never faced too many hardships while settling down while his liking for the place and its people since he has been even thinking of settling down for good.
Unlike other foreign students, Abdul had no problem with Bangladeshi cuisine. His favourite is biriyani.
‘You cannot find it in Turkey and I had it here for the first time in Star Kabab before finding another place in old Dhaka, Nanna’s Biriyani, to have it and its just delicious,’ says Abdul.
Durajon, a Nepali student, who studies pharmacy in Dhaka University, does not have any problem here except for the fact that he has to go all the way to Nepal to collect money as there is no direct way for his parents to transfer it to his account.
Subash, another Nepali, says the thing that bothers him the most about this country is the insane traffic on the road. Indradhoj Kshetri, who is doing his MA in media and journalism in Dhaka University, feels that the educational environment here is somewhat better than that in Nepal. Kshetri likes the country as it gives him a different view of nature as with Nepal being mostly mountainous, he never saw the beauty of a coastline until he visited Cox’s Bazaar.
Similarly, Liu Yingcong from China also plans on staying back in Bangladesh.
‘I came here because I wanted to learn Bangla,’ she says.
‘My great grandfather used to live in India and my great aunt is a well known professor of Bangla in Kolkata, which is why I have always been fascinated with the language and culture. She even gave me a Bangla daaknaam of “Ira”.’
Liu has been living here for the past two years and is majoring in English and minoring in Bangla from Dhaka University, and would like to study the language to a greater degree.
‘I chose Bangladesh, and not Kolkata, because my great aunt said that in Bangladesh, 98 to 99 per cent of the people speak in Bangla, but in cosmopolitan surroundings of Kolkata people speak in many other languages like Hindi and English. That is when I decided that I have to come here if I truly want to learn the language.’
There have, however, been many hurdles that she had to face initially.
‘People often mistake me for being a part of a tribal caste of Bangladesh. I had not realised this before but the majority of Bangladeshis look down on the ethnic minorities and there were countless occasions when they were very disapproving of me, referring to me as a “Chakma” when they walked past me,’ she recalls.
‘It was difficult at first but when I started making friends, I realised that there are many nice people here who are warm and kind.
‘I think I’m here to stay. Bangladesh is becoming more and more of a home for me, especially since Bangla is my passion’, she concludes.
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