Does online technology provide sustainable HE or aggravate diploma disease? Evidence from Bangladesh—a comparison of conditions before and during COVID-19

Higher education (HE) serves to produce well trained and job-ready graduates. Despite this belief, whether HE produces certificates/qualifications or job-ready graduates—this debate remains unsettled. To date, the current COVID-19 pandemic which erupted in late 2019 continues to create much economic, social and political dislocation throughout the world. Consequently, one outcome for HE during this crisis is the much greater dependence on online/digital technology to deliver courses and programs. Although it is not considered to be a complete substitute, critics argue that education delivered through online technology has expended the ‘diploma disease’ crisis and subsequently may pose a threat to the viability of producing HE graduates. It has been suggested that this can result in significant long-term problems that may be…