The Vice Chancellor of Bangladesh University of Business and Technology (BUBT) Prof. Dr. Md. Fayyaz Khan expressed his deep concern over the present condition of higher education in Bangladesh under new normal conditions as a good number of public universities could not even offer online classes/exams but 9 months have gone. He said, “High cost & low speed mobile data, weak internet backbone, expensive electronic devices, and financial crisis of students are few challenges for Covid period education in Bangladesh.” The opinion came while he was speaking in a webinar on E-Learning and the Future of Higher Education which was hosted by Faith Bangladesh in the evening on January 09, 2021.

The Keynote paper was delivered by Dr. Chris Dede, Write Professor in Learning Technologies, Harvard University. Other speakers were Dr. Badrul Khan, President, McWeadon Education, Dr. Aftab Uddin, CEO, McWeadon Education, Dr. Joseph Rene Corbeil, Professor, Educational Technology Teaching and Learning, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and Dr. Rgggie Smith, Chief Executive Officer/Executive Director, United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA).

Respected leaders in the field of E-Learning and Educational Technology conversed on the topic as educators and students from around the world are curious about the future of schooling and its format. Their predictions include a mixed format with on-campus and stand-alone online or hybrid mode. But the method must be based on stakeholders’ needs.

Speakers said that the internet can give students some new privileges, but physical presence is also needed in effective higher education. Engineering and medical students cannot learn properly if they rely only on internet based classes. Though many argue that digital or AI based education would be enough, it is true that in the future, online education is not the only solution.