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Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre - Bangladesh
Source: Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre
Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre (BPATC), the apex training institute in the public sector, was founded in 1084 as a autonomous organisation under Presidential Ordinance (Ordinance No XXVI of 1984). The charter created the BPATC by amalgamating the following training institutions :
The merger took place with a vision to integrate (both human and non-human resources), pool diverse ideas and experiences and widen scope of interactions between different cadres and services. Thus, BPATC, inheres a rich legacy, and sets a unique model of integrated training in the fields of public administration and management.
The basic professional tasks ascribed to BPATC are to design and organise training courses, workshops, seminars and conduct research on public administration, management and development economics. Moreover, the centre advises government on leading policy making issues. Clientele groups of BPATC are diverse representing all the 29 cadres of the civil service. Their level ranges from newly recruited Civil Servants to the top level policy makers. Business executives of both public and private sectors are also encouraged to participate in the training programmes of BPATC. Currently, NGOs are also showing keen interest in BPATC's training programmes. In the past, several NGO representatives have participated in the seminar and workshops of BPATC
Specific functions as enunciated in the BPATC charter are :
The centre is headed by the Rector who is a Secretary to the Government of Bangladesh. Imeediate below him are five MDSs (Member Directing Staff) equivalent to the rank of Joint Secretary to the Government of Bangladesh who are having following divisions :
Each consists of number of specialised departments headed by a director of the rank of Deputy Secretary. The other faculty members below directors are designated as Deputy Director and Assistant Director. The organogram of the BPATC is shown below :
BPATC's human resource plan comprises balanced mix of both directly recruited professional and practicing managers on secondment from the field. This enabled BPATC to design and organise need based training programmes for its clientele groups. Similaly, class-room sessions also blend balanced mix of both theory and practice.
BPATC is implementing itd programmes enjoys substantial autonomy. The Rector as the Chief Executive of BPATC, has adequate powers to dispose-off most financial and administrative matters. However, the 12 member Board of Governores chaired by a Minister provide general policy direction as and when required. The Board is composed of the following members :
Under BPATC, four regional centers called "Regional Public Administration Training Centre" (RPATC) are operating at the divisional headquarters at Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi and Khulna. These centers usually design and organise training for junior officers (class-II) and clerical staffs and occasionally for class-I officers.
BPATC's training programmes are broadly classified into two categories viz. : (i) Core courses and (ii) Short specialised courses. Core courses usually range from 10-16 weeks and are linked to career developmetn while short specialised programmes range from 1-4 weeks. The focus of the core courses are usually of general nature in order to develop the conceptual base while short specialised course focuses on the development of a particular skill of a specific clientele group.
The courses usually designed and organised by BPATC are listed below :
The Core Courses
The Short Courses
Each year, BPATC prepares a comprehensive annual plan for its training, workshop and seminar programmes. Year to year, the plan however, incrementally varies to incorporate new courses, seminars and workshops depending on clientele needs and changing environment.
Foundation Training Course
Foundation Courses are organised for the new recruits of civil service of Bangladesh. Civil Servants of all cadres complusorily undertake this course for confirmation of their services. Currently, the duration of the course is 4 months. Upon completion of the Public Administration Efficiency Development (BPATC Third Phase) Project, the duration of the course is likely to be enhanced.
Advanced Course on Administration and Development (ACAD)
The Advanced Course on Administration and Development (ACAD) is organised mid-level managers to the rank of deputy secretary to the government and their equivalents. Previously, with two-week foreign study tour, the duration of the course was 12 weeks. For lack of founding to support the foreign study tour, the duration of the course has been reduced to 10 weeks. The duration may be reverted back if foreign study tour is reintroduced.
Senior Staff Course (SSC)
The Senior Staff Course (SSC) is designed and organised for the top-level policy-makers to the rank of Joint Secretary to the government and their equivalent officers from oublic enterprises and Sector Corporations and Armed Force. Previously, with two foreign study tour in regional countries, the duration of the course was three month. Unfortunately for lack of funding to implement the foreign study tout, the course duration has been refixed to 10 weeks. The 12-week course duration may be resumed if foreign study tour is reintoduced.
Training Programmes of RPATCs
The RPATCs usually design and organise skill based training programmes for the support staff. Sometimes, training courses, seminars and workshops for the senior level officers are organised, particularly in Dhaka RPATC for convenience of location.
Every year an annual training plan for each RPATC is prepared and distributed to clentele organizations. Changes in training programmes are introduced in each year to meet clientele need and changed environment training courses usually offered by RPATCs are as follows :
In addition to training courses, BPATC organises seminars and workshop on leading national and international issues. In each year, BPATC, on an average, organises 4-5 seminars and workshops. The number of seminars and workshops are likely to be enhanced when physical facilities under BPATC phase-III development projects are fully installed. Seminar and workshop are conducted both as a training and problem solving methods. In SSC and ACAD, each participant prepares a seminar paper on a topic determined by specialist faculty members and presents the paper on a scheduled date and time. Participants of the foundation courses are also encouraged to organise seminars and workshops. Exclusive seminars and workshops are also organized on complex and leading national and international issues. Participants from diverse fields get opportunity to share experiences and ideas. This sharing process reinforces learning, generates creative inputs for policy improvement.
The Centre in collaboration with the Economic Development Institute (EDI) of the World Bank organised seminars and workshops in the areas of national economic management, management of public enterprises, project sustainability, development management, human resource development, structural adjustment and poverty alleviation. Asia and Pacific Development Center (APDC), Malaysia, collaborated in holding two regional workshops namely, 'South Asian Ddemonstration workshop on Administrative Improvemetn` and 'ASEAN-SAARC Conference on Administrative and Financial Accountabiliy`. ESCAP, Asian Development Bank, Jahangirnagar University Collaborated with BPATC in holding several workshops in the area of environment management and sustainable development. Besides, with the assistance of IIAP, France, BPATC organised two modules in the Senior Staff Course on 'Modernising Civil Service` and 'New International Economic Order`.
Bpatc encourages its faculty members to participatre in research and acase study programmes in the field of Public Administration, management and Development Economics. Financial and other logistic supports in carrying out these studies are provided by BPATC. In each year, 8-10 research and case studies are conducted by the BPATC faculty members. These studies are conducted to assist and advise the government on policy analysis and policy formulation. Moreover, need-based curricula, empirical reading materials teaching cases and training methods are also designed and developed from these research studies. EDI of World bank, in collaboration with BPATC, designed seveal cases that are being used in training programmes of BPATC.
Participants of the core courses are encouraged to prepare research papers and reports. Under faculty guidance, they collect data from the fields on a specifoc topic or isse determined by the faculty and then they prepare and present the report in a seminar. This study programme open-up opportunity both for the faculty members and the participants to share experiences and ideas that concurrently reinforce learning and develop professionalism.
BPATCs research studies were acclaimed by regional and international professional societies and some of our faculty members were awarded fellowships to present seminar papers.
Publication
The centre publishes books, journals, research reports, case studies ans training materials on major areas like Public Administration. Management and Development Economics. The centre also publishes three journals, two in Bengali and the other in English. The title of the journals are:
BPATC owns one of the richest libraries in Bangladesh in the field of Public Administration and Management. The three story beautiful library building housed in over 38,000 square feet of spaces has a collection of about82,000 volumes of books, journals and periodicals. Currently, BPATC subscribes to 51 journals (37 foreign and 14 local). Under exchange programmes, BPATC receives 137 journals (77 foreign and 80 local). The regular flow of journals comprise 188 titles.
The library can accommodate more than 200 readers at a time. This includes a well decorated separate reading room for staff members.
BPATC in collaboration with national and international agencies, has organised several workshops, seminars, training, research and case study programmes. Major areas of collaboration were Prverty Alleviation, Human Development, Management Development, Project Sustainability, Civil Service Modernization, Child Rights, Child Labour and the major agencies involved in the collaborative efforts include: ESCAP, UNDP, UNICEF, CFTC, EDI, IDS, IIAP, WFP, ILO, ADPC, Radda Barnne, and some local NGOs. Foreign study tours of SSC and ACAD were previously implemented in collaboration with SLIDA (Sri Lanka), INTAN (Malaysia), LAN (indonesia), PASC (Pakistan), NASC (Nepal), IIPA (India). The centre is also associated with different professional societies like CAPAM, ADIPA, AMIDSA and BSTD. BPATC is keen to strengthen its linkages with other international sister institutes like the AIM (the Philippines), AIT (Thailand), ISS (Netherlands), RIPA(UK) etc.
To upgrade the professional knowledge and skill, BPATC ascribes utmost priority to Human Resources Development Programme, both in-house, incountry and overseas for its staff members. BPATC encourages its faculty members to participate in the in-house training courses such as Foundation Training, TOT, Research Methodology, Financial Management Course, Disaster Management, Child Rights and Child Labours, Computer Operations Course. BPATC also nominates its faculty members to participate in the training courses locally organised by other training institutes and NGOs.
Since inception, BPATC pusued the policy of sending the members of its academic faculty for overseas training in specialized area of Public Administration, Business Administration, Development Economics, Human Resource Management, Environment Management, Project Management, Financial Management, Disaster Management, Rural Development, Management Information System, Geographic Information System, Policy Analysis etc. A good number of faculty members received both short and long-term training in the USA, UK, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Australia, India, Pakistan etc.
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