Marketization of discourse: a critical discourse analysis of private universities in Bangladesh

Abstract

In this Information Age the demand for quality education is ever on the increase. A decade ago the 12 national universities in Bangladesh could hardly satisfy the public needs for university education. This scenario paved the way for the Private University Act (PUA) to be implemented in 1992, which spelled opportunities for many. The first private university was set up in 1993; at present there are forty five private universities in operation or in the initial stages of operation. In their endeavor to gain the confidence of the public the universities are trying to channel their education policies not only by catering to the local as well as the global market needs but also by offering state-of-the-art facilities. The hype that some of the universities are generating is through the 'marketization of discourse'. As a result, the focus has shifted from the quality of education to the image that the institutions portray. The 'marketization of discourse' is so subtle that it eludes the common sense of most people. The purpose of this paper is to analyze some discourse of private universities in Bangladesh and show how the 'marketization of discourse' is taking place from a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) perspective.