ZAMMANS RESEARCH & CONSULTING meets requirements, multifarious or unique or complex, of its clients world-wide, both effectively and efficiently. It has taken us dozens of extensive studies over the past 20 years, across the UK, USA, Malaysia, Hong Kong, UAE and India to comprehend fully, the attributes, attitudes and behavioural patterns of our clients enabling us to analyse and identify exactly
what they need and want. Our services, as a result, correspond perfectly to their expectations. A study conducted in Bangladesh between 2012 and 2014, reveals that the greatest majority of organisations and individuals perceive that the current research and consulting work in the country as lacking distinction and well below the international benchmarks. To them, a properly formulated plan is impossible to find. Indeed, most of the respondents believe that the service providers do not possibly possess the skill needed to devise an appropriate plan, in the first place. The EDPs (Executive Development Programmes) use materials that have become antiquated in relation to tools and techniques used in the West; and there does not seem to be any sign yet of the advent of new or innovative programmes. Research organisations have been accused of data manipulation and offering recommendations inconsistent with the findings. The bigger problem though is a massive shortage of knowledgeable analysts. These organisations do clearly take advantage of their clients’ trust and often, ignorance, inevitably resorting to the same old ‘exploitation’ ploys that our nation has been subjected to since time immemorial. The higher education sector is an extremely interesting area. It is discovered that the institutions of higher education are fast hitting the skids as their teaching staff or the academic administrators have little knowledge of strategic planning in the context of higher education, curriculum development or revision, modern teaching pedagogy and accreditation. There is no use of any TL (Teaching and Learning) models such as Bloom’s ‘Three Domain’ and ‘Cognitive Domain’ models, AACSB’s MLG (Measurable Learning Goals), or QAA TL (Teaching and Learning) frameworks. Degree programmes do not contain PLGs (Programme Learning Goals), PLOs (Programme Learning Outcomes) or CLOs (Course Learning Outcomes) meaning there are no precisely articulated learning objectives to help students: 1. Differentiate between ‘structural’ knowledge and ‘procedural’ knowledge, 2. Practise the “right” skills, 3. Develop self-directiveness, 4. Learn new materials, and 5. Build meta-cognitive skills. The implications for the teachers are, in effect, shambolic as they fail to: a. Plan teaching, b. Manage teaching and learning, c. Enhance learning, d. Facilitate evaluation, e. Aid communications, f. Design or revise the curriculum, and g. Produce new insights. There is no TLA Planning and Implementation Matrix based on the dimensions of the Learning Structural Architectures and the Modes of Learning. This means teachers have absolutely no clue whatsoever as to the combination of teaching and learning methodologies they should adopt. Our study has given us a whole new perspective on: i. The current circumstance as far as training, research and consulting initiatives in the country are concerned, ii. The nature of services both organisations and individuals need and critically, iii. The roles we can play in fulfilling their needs, in a mutually beneficial way. ZAMMANS would contribute significantly, there is absolutely no doubt about it. Being able to help organisations and individuals in your ‘Motherland’ in a systematic, honest and effective way is, obviously, a chance in a lifetime!
