The Versatile, Shopping Cart Course Offering System In USA

Rafiq Islam: When I arrived at Rajshahi University in mid-70, the system was totally dictated by the British system, as expected, as most of the professors who went abroad for higher studies were trained in the United Kingdom. Bachelor Honors degrees were then a three-year program handful of broad subjects in Honors and three subjects in each of two Subsidiaries. Subsidiary exam was held at the end of 2^nd year and the Final exam on Honors subject was at the end of 3^rd or final year. The final result (1^st, 2^nd class etc ) in the Bachelors Honors degrees was entirely determined by the Final year exam, performance in the Subsidiary exams had no impact. When I see my students cannot remember materials just taught a week earlier, I sometimes quip, “Imagine taking exam in all chemistry courses at the end of 3^rd year”. Almost always their response, “you are kidding, right!” “No, I am dead serious.” ‘That’s insane.”  A three-hour exam on a subject only to answer five out of 8 questions, in which the examiners, both internal and external, hardly gave 6 out 10 for even a perfect answer. I still cannot fathom on what basis the examiners took nearly 40% of available points off. However, things started to change before we graduated: broad subjects were split into courses, exams that counted were given at the end of each year.  And now Bachelors Honors degrees are a four-year program and performance on all courses do count in determining the final result, a GPA-based system- all these are following the American college system. We have come a long way to Americanize our undergraduate education system, however, the differences are still vast from administration to curriculum to course offering. Pointing out these will take much more space, rather I will try to point out a few aspects on course offering.

Students in Bangladesh universities, especially in public, take the required courses for a major in structured fashion, meaning courses and the sequence are preassigned and fixed for each academic year for every major. In USA, students take the required courses for a major (and minor, if required) not in a fixed sequence. There is no preassigned, fixed set of courses for a particular academic year. They can take any course in any order in any semester like a shopping cart, except that lower level course (e.g., General Chemistry I) must be completed before upper level course (General Chemistry II). This versatile, open system makes the US undergraduate education a unique and offers many advantages. First of all, students can choose and pick courses at his/her own liking and pace, and pay accordingly per course credit, not per month or year. Students in unusual situations such as a death in family, health issue or financial crisis don’t have to drop out completely or miss a whole year. It allows students to obtain a degree while working full-time or part time. If desired, students can graduate early by taking more courses in every semester, for instance, 18 credit hours instead of normal 12-15 credit hours per semester. Lastly and importantly, students can double major in some extra time, e.g., in five years. To this day, I harbor a wish that if opportunity existed I would have obtained double masters in both Biochemistry and Applied Chemistry. Although Masters was a one-year program then, it took over two years to complete. With only three courses and a thesis work, I felt I had enough extra time to complete another degree without knowing then existence of such opportunity in other countries. Obviously, students with double major are more marketable. The open system also gives opportunity to returning graduates after working a couple of years to complete another major.

The other important advantage is the efficient use of resources. Courses can be scheduled based on demand: increase number of sections for demanding courses and reduce for less demanding or offer less frequently, like every other semester or only Spring or Fall semester. Courses are scheduled by the department, thus a course in English writing by the English department, based on its demand and available resources (faculty, classroom). Resources can also be consolidated. For example, Chemistry, Applied Chemistry, Biochemistry, Pharmacy and Material Science majors need many similar courses (General/Physical Chem., Organic Chem. etc), so these departments can develop a common syllabus and offer multi-section classes at different time-slots taught by faculty of all these departments. Students with minor also can take these classes, instead of having courses specific for them. Students can enroll in any section with limited restriction.

Faculty member teaching a course is fully responsible for that course from teaching materials to writing, conducting and grading exams and quizzes, up to submission of the final grade without any supervision. Faculty members at US universities discharge these responsibilities as honestly as possible. However, if a student perceives unfairness in grading, he/she can appeal to the department chair, who immediately forms a committee with a set number (3-4) of departmental faculty members to investigate. The committee interrogate both the faculty involved and student, and examine necessary documents (exams, syllabus etc). Students still unsatisfied with the unfavorable outcome can appeal to the University-wide Appeal committee composed of several faculty members from various departments. One important step to avoid any controversy is to review tests grading with students in the class. The tests are given during class time saving scheduling, proctoring etc and also the hassle of Moderation process. When so many courses are needed for graduation, unfair grading received in one or two courses should have very little impact on the overall GPA.

The universities in the US are lean and efficient. The size (Faculty and staff number) of any department in public universities of Bangladesh will offer a plethora of degrees more than the five departments (for example, Chemistry, Applied Chemistry, Material Sciences, Pharmacy, and Biochemistry) combined. In fact, such specific departments only be found in PhD granting universities, where each department will have ~20 PhD students. Primary reason is, of course, budget. Because of limited funding, departments often employ students as teaching or lab assistant, which is a win-win situation for both. University pays less to students compared to a full time employee or faculty, and students earn to support themselves and use the experience gained to land a job after graduation.

With clear benefits, the universities in Bangladesh should explore the versatile open system. It can serve more students up to the limit of all classrooms, and with potential on-line offering of courses in humanities and business it can serve even more. This latter alone is an attractive point as the public institutes of higher education in Bangladesh currently are unable to accommodate all students passing HSC exam.