Path to outcome based higher education in Bangladesh: an analysis of student engagement and socio-demographic factors

Since the early 90s higher education institutions (HEIs) have been globally experiencing a shift from `traditional' to ` outcome-based education (OBE)' approach, which allows learners to actively construct knowledge and enjoy learning with peers and teachers. However, the concept of OBE and student engagement is recently discussed in Bangladesh and needs to be studied well, especially, in terms of understanding the influence of various socio-demographic factors. This study examined the influence of student socio-demographic factors on student engagement and the interrelation between student engagement, student satisfaction, and teaching practices in undergraduate engineering education at the largest private university in Bangladesh. An online student survey was conducted in June 2021. Student engagement consisted of 5 domains: academic, cognitive, affective, social engagement with peers and social engagement with teachers. Independent sample t-test on 348 students showed that the 5 domains of student engagement vary by certain socio-demographic factors of students. For example, students aged 25 years and up scored lower than students aged 18 to 24 years in academic engagement (t=-2.2, p=0.026<0.05) and social engagement with teachers (t=-2.4, p=0.015<0.05). Similarly, students from English medium higher secondary education scored lower, in comparison to Bengali medium students in cognitive engagement (t=-3.1, p=0.002<0.05) and affective engagement (t=-3.4, p=0.001<0.05). Pearson correlation tests evidenced that student engagement is significantly correlated to elements of OBE: student satisfaction (r=0.68, p=0.000<0.01) and teaching practices (r=0.65, p=0.000<0.01). The path to OBE should be facilitated by improvement in all domains of engagement. Additionally, HEIs should address the varying needs of the student cohorts who are vulnerable to low student engagement.