If observed closely, it can be noticed that the private sector is more affected by market forces whereas the public sector takes political factors more into consideration while making their decisions.
And this can be credited as the prime force behind the sorry state of the public university canteen system and their food quality. Can they adopt a private university model to enhance quality?
Decision Making in Public Sector:
Profitability is not an issue for the public sector. These institutions are funded from public funds mostly. So, we see universities like the University of Dhaka, Jahangirnagar University, Medical colleges focus on problems that are politically motivated.
Since these universities are public funded institutions, in a sense they serve their goal is to create an opportunity for tertiary education for students from all financial backgrounds.
However, as a public organisation to continuously gain funds from their sponsors, which in this case is the government of Bangladesh, they have to take into consideration the satisfaction of the government with limited quality.
Decision Making in Private Sector:
The private sector prioritises issues on the basis of opportunities because of it being tied to the market forces. This is why we can witness different Bangladeshi universities offering courses on subjects that are high in demand in the market. At times, many private universities too are seen as not very interested in research, because research does not generate much revenue for the institution.
How canteens run:
When it comes to the canteen system, which is responsible for thousands of students’ nutrition and good health, decision making of what type of quality and quantity will be provided are always in contrast.
Mostly, public universities like the University of Dhaka (DU) have canteens in their hall, campus and other areas which are mostly funded by the government. Students often seem to complain about the bad quality of the food even though they get the benefit of paying less prices.
Quazi Shuvro Salamat Rahman, a DU 2nd-year-student, thinks that the opportunity cost of cheap foods is quite high for the health condition of the young generation.
“Who gives them the right to provide such a degrading quality of food without maintaining hygiene? Some of my friends who reside in halls have even seen cockroaches beside the food items in their hall.”
Quality enhancement with higher pricing:
On the other hand, Ishtiak Ahmed, aspiring doctor and a 3rd year MBBS student of Faridpur Medical college shared how the quality of his institution’s canteen’s food has changed in a year with private forces in action.
“Since last year, once the contract was given to the private hands, we are getting hygienic food with good quality and quantity. Even though it’s beneficial, the price remains high. However, students are happy with the canteen and food quality.”
So, when the public organisations like public universities decide to contract in with private organisations, it leads to satisfactory results. But in the private organisations, if the price gets too high, then it leads to unsatisfactory results in terms of financial limitations.
“I spend most of the day in my university when it comes to getting done with all of my classes. A slice of pizza at our canteen costs me 90 taka. It is surely not possible for a student to buy food from the canteen who comes from a middle class background,” said Sheefayn Moorsalin, a CSE student of North South University (NSU).
She prefers going out to have food within a good price limit. A place named Ghatpar has become famous among the NSU students for providing cheap foods.
Price optimisation is the answer:
However, this is not always the case. Many private sector organisations prefer to go with higher market demands by optimising price which leads to profitability and more customers. Consumers buy more from them as they feel more comfortable within the price limit.
For example, when it comes to Brac University, students mostly prefer to have their lunch or snacks from the canteen as it's more reasonable and satisfactory than any other restaurants near the Mohakhali area.
Ornee Sharif, who is doing her major in economics from the Brac University, said that she and her friends prefer to have campus foods as it comes with good quality within reasonable price and variety of items.
“Even our canteen allows extra employees to work in rush hours so that they can maintain their quality,” Ornee added.
It is quite clear that public organisations often lag in providing better quality even though they ensure cheap prices with the assistance of government funds. But if these organisations start contracting out by ensuring market demands and sufficient price limits, it will enhance good quality of food for the young generation.
Hence, the public university authorities need to start thinking about a change in the existing system as an unhealthy youth generation will not lead the country anywhere.
