The establishment of private universities is a comparatively new phenomenon in higher education in Bangladesh. This phenomenal growth has been possible because of the recent neo-liberalization and commodification of education, supported by internal and external funding, investment by companies, and a wealthy elite business class. The same trend is found in Pakistan, India, and Nepal where English seems to play a vital role in personal and professional development.
These universities, significantly influenced by the ethos of neoliberalism, tend to promote 'global education' and they do it in English - the only official language within university premises. They follow the curriculum and syllabuses developed by North American universities. Contrary to the nationalistic discourses prevalent in Bangladesh and the strong promotion of Bangla in the public sector, private universities manage to promote English as an official language and the medium of instruction, taking advantage of the fact that the University Grant Commission Bangladesh did not put any specific clause regarding the medium of instruction in Private University Act 1992.
With reference to the recent 'neoliberal turn' in higher education, the paper will present a critical qualitative study that explores the effect of EMI in private universities in Bangladesh. The paper reveals that English is considered a crucial index of human capital development in private higher education in Bangladesh. However, students fail to understand lectures and textbooks, interact with teachers and other students, and express their opinions in English. They struggle to cognitively engage in learning processes and develop a sound knowledge of their disciplines. Consequently, they start depending on rote memorization from their desperate compulsion of performing adequately in classroom presentations and securing pass grades in exams. EMI, in other words, robs students of their rights to construct knowledge and severely impedes their possibilities of becoming critically aware. The paper, hence, concludes that the neoliberal turn in education with an emphasis on English is a double-edged sword that seems to disempower students, on the one hand, by forcing them to adapt limited learning strategies and on the other, by crippling their prospects of better life chances in future.
To disrupt the spell of English and the ideology, governance, and policies inspired by neoliberalism, the paper suggests pedagogic interventions. The university authorities, with vested interests, may not always bring about changes to policies and practices. The teachers may take a proactive role and create pockets of resistance within their classrooms, expecting that there would be a ripple effect in society. They may allow Bangla in the classroom for critical engagement with knowledge. They may also foster 'translingual dispositions' amongst students that may make them respectful towards linguistic diversity, differences, and plurality and critically aware of linguistic ideology, linguistic inequalities, and unequal Englishes. Teachers may not change the education system overnight, but they can make students understand how neoliberal education encourages systematic discrimination and social and educational marginalization. Only by learning to question, students may resist the inequality existing in the education system and gain control over their learning and life in the future.
