BQSP Newsletter No. 1

October 2006

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The study, conducted in 2006, was commissioned by UNIDO under the Textiles/RMG project of BQSP. The study was designed to identify the needs of the sector for training in the technical, production management and marketing areas, and for other support services.

The survey included seventy two small, medium and large enterprises, and textiles and RMG training institutions, with a special emphasis on the role of the National Institute of Textile Training Research & Design (NITTRAD) and BGMEA Institute of Fashion Technology (BIFT).

The study concluded that it was essential that the textiles/RMG industries improved productivity, quality standards, cost control and marketing if it was to sustain the current rate of growth. There was a need for improved training, design, research, testing, and consultancy and technical services.

Many companies had ambitions to expand their export market and upgrade their product range, quality standards, and marketing methods. But these aims were often unrealistic given their current skill levels, business methods, and organizational structures. The gap between aspirations and capabilities could be narrowed through improved training opportunities in those areas where weaknesses had been identified.

There is a serious shortage of skilled manpower and the shortfall will become ever more severe as the industry attempts to maintain the current rate of growth. It was estimated that at present the sector employs around 40,000 professional and management staff, approximately half of whom work in technical and engineering functions. Of these around 80% have received formal training, around 2,000 to degree level, 5,000 to diploma level, and 9,000 in vocational courses. Only around 100 were educated or trained overseas. Around 4,000 have no formal training but have learnt ‘on-the-job’.

The authors of the report estimate, that the sector requires almost twice this number of technicians/engineers, and more than 50% more trained professionals in management and marketing. At the present rate of growth, by 2010, the sector will require three times the number of professional and technical personnel currently employed.

There is an urgent need to increase the number of training places as well as the technical and professional standard of the courses offered.

Professor Volker Rossbach, Professor of Textile Chemistry, Finishing, and Fibrous Materials at the Technical University of Dresden, and UNIDO international consultant on textile dyeing and finishing, visited Bangladesh in August 2006. He visited the National Institute of Textile Training, Research and Design (NITTRAD) to carry out an evaluation of the Dyeing/ Printing/ Finishing Department, and had discussions with the Ministry of Textiles & Jute (MoT & J), the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) and GTZ (German Technical Cooperation). Professor Rossbach also visited fifteen wet processing companies and other textile training institutions. A survey of wet processing mills was carried out prior to Professor Rossbach’s visit and he had discussions with twenty managers of dyeing/printing/ finishing mills on mill operations and training needs and supply during his visit.

Professor Rossbach presented his findings and recommendations to stakeholders including representatives of MoT & J, MOC, BTMA, BGMEA, BKMEA, NITTRAD, BIFT, the College of Textile Technology DU, and GTZ. UNIDO is assisting NITTRAD to upgrade the facilities, courses and teaching standards, including in dyeing and finishing, based on Professor Rossbach’s comments, which are summarised below.

Although training standards and facilities in dyeing/printing/finishing at NITTRAD are better than in most other textile training institutions in Bangladesh (particularly the private institutions) they are below the standard set by training institutes in industrialised countries and not up to the standard set by the best Bangladesh companies. NITTRAD is not therefore currently able to fulfil its intended role as the nation’s leading institute of textile training and research.

The most serious problem at NITTRAD is the lack of a continuous input of up-to-date technical knowledge. Only six international books on dyeing/printing/ finishing have been added to the institute’s library in the past ten years, and no international textile journals are available in the library. UNIDO is in the process of providing a remedy for the most serious deficiency – the lack of a fast, reliable internet connection.

Curricula need to be revised, as courses at present are too generalised and do not meet the highly technical requirements of the industry, especially as the methods and standards in the best Bangladesh mills are equal to those in mills in the industrialised countries. Six types of courses should be offered at NITTRAD in the future, the need for which is confirmed by the findings of UNIDO’s survey on “Needs Assessment Survey for Strengthening Bangladesh Primary Textile & RMG Industry (Training, Research, Design, Testing and Consultancy Needs)”. They proposed courses are:

Short Courses

• Vocational Technical Training Courses:for mid-level technical management
• Higher Level TechnicalTraining Courses:short modular courses for higher technical managers
• Basic Technical Courses:for non-technical senior managers, and newly recruited technical or marketing personnel
• Innovation Seminars:  on “burning issues”, trends and new technologies Non-Technical Seminars:on general issues of the textile industry, but conducted by teachers familiar with the textile industry, including seminars on marketing, mill management, health and safety etc.

Long term Courses

Certificate Academic Courses: one year courses for university graduates from non-textile disciplines wishing to make a career in textiles, based on the existing well supported post-graduate course currently offered.

Professor Rossbach has made detailed proposals for the development of all of these courses. UNIDO will work with NITTRAD and the newly created public/private board of governors to modernise the whole of NITTRAD, including the dyeing and finishing department.