AI Readiness and the Demographic Dividend in Bangladeshi Higher Education
An exploratory study examining the AI readiness gap in Bangladeshi academia, bridging pedagogical and institutional leadership perspectives.
Note: This project holds sentimental value to me because all three siblings (my elder sister who is an Asst. Prof. of Management, me, and my younger brother who is a graduate student in International Relations, studying comparative energy and resource bottlenecks of USA-China AI race) are the collaborators, and out of the common values of serving our home country, we undertook this endeavour. Additionally, the three of us bring unique expertise to this project that will make the project one of a kind. Super excited for this work!
Bangladesh stands at a critical juncture of its demographic dividend, yet its tertiary education system faces an intensifying graduate employability crisis—particularly across business and social science disciplines. This interdisciplinary project investigates the “AI readiness gap” in Bangladeshi academia from both pedagogical and institutional leadership perspectives.
By surveying and interviewing university faculty, department leadership, and students, the study examines three intersecting questions:
- Curricular awareness — whether academic curricula acknowledge foundational shifts driven by generative AI and how curriculum design is adapting to technological change.
- Institutional perception — how academic leadership perceives the urgency of technological restructuring and the barriers they face in accelerating institutional adaptation.
- Systemic barriers — what institutional, structural, and resource constraints prevent timely curriculum redesign and faculty professional development in AI-adjacent fields.
Bridging perspectives across management pedagogy, higher education policy, and global technological shifts, this work critically assesses whether current academic preparation equips the nation’s emerging workforce for an AI-mediated global economy or risks compounding existing employment bottlenecks. The findings aim to inform institutional leadership and policymakers on strategic investments in faculty development, curriculum modernization, and partnerships between academia and industry in Bangladesh.
This is an ongoing exploratory study grounded in empirical qualitative and survey-based methods. As the project develops, insights will be shared in practitioner-facing venues and academic publications addressing the intersection of AI, education policy, and economic development in the Global South.