Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia has a good reputation. According to Times Higher Education’s latest ranking, this university is ranked 175th in the world. A Bangladeshi, named Tanveer Shahid, is in charge of the Deputy Director of the International Department of this famous educational institution. Since 2008, he has served in various important positions in the same department. Through his hands, the path of many Bangladeshi students to study at Macquarie University has been smooth.

Tanvir Shahid has been in Australia for more than 20 years. He believes that in order to bring about any change, it is important to first reach the voice at the policy-making level. And the most effective way to reach a voice is through education. So he always tries to help Bangladeshi students from his place. He said, ‘I am here today by capitalizing on education. Many talented students of Bangladesh can take the opportunity of higher education in Australia. In this they will be able to bring positive changes in their lives and the lives of the people of the country.

Australia has an international education agency. The name is ‘National Office of Overseas Skills Recognition’ abbreviated as NOOSR. This organization creates a profile on education standards, skills, etc. of different countries. Even a decade ago, NOOSR did not have any information about most of the universities in Bangladesh. Because of this, the quality of Bangladesh’s certificate in Australia was low. Tanveer Shahid took the initiative while serving as Senior Country Manager for South Asia at Macquarie University. He made arrangements to travel to Bangladesh with the vice-chancellor, regional director and seniors. Because, he knew, Macquarie authority’s opinion about Bangladesh would change once he visited. That’s it. They were impressed by the university level education system of Bangladesh, especially the hospitality of Bangladeshis. While visiting Bangladesh, the university authorities asked Tanveer to prepare a personal report on Bangladesh.

Despite not being part of the responsibility, he prepared a detailed report with great effort. That labor was not in vain. The report received the green signal from Macquarie University’s core governing board. As a result, Macquarie University started accepting Bangladeshi students by raising the standard of education certificates in Bangladesh, even though the official documents were not updated. Soon after this, the number of Bangladeshi students at Macquarie University started increasing. The issue quickly caught the attention of other universities in Australia. The report prepared by Tanveer Shaheed was also taken into account by others. As a result, the acceptance of Bangladeshi students in other universities also increased.

Another approach of Australian universities also caught Tanveer Shahid’s attention. He noted that many students, especially from European universities, come to study in Australia for six months at undergraduate or postgraduate level for a semester. That is, they studied in Australia for one semester in the middle of their studies at the university of their country and went back. In this, they get the benefit of the educational system of the two countries at almost the same cost. But this facility can be availed only by the students of the listed countries.

Tanveer Shahid kept thinking, how can Bangladeshi students also take this opportunity to study in Australia. Credit transfer to Australia was quite difficult as the position of Bangladeshi universities was not very significant in the ranking. On the other hand, Bangladeshi students were not even given this short-term student visa. But Tanveer did not give up hope. He prepared another report with data on the achievements of Bangladeshi students doing postgraduate or research in Australia or Bangladeshi students in other countries. Macquarie University authorities agreed to undertake independent projects based on his report. Tanveer said that students from middle class families of Bangladesh have benefited the most from this project. Since the semester fee is paid and the stay is less than one year, huge sums of money are not required to get a student visa. Besides, money can also be earned by doing short-term jobs during this time. As students’ language skills improve, they can return with new experiences.

Tanveer’s advice for Bangladeshi students, ‘Finish graduation and post-graduation first. Research or PhD does not cost much money, the university authorities bear this cost. So you have to be patient.