Educational colonialism and progress: an enquiry into the architectural pedagogy of Bangladesh

The purpose of this article is to reconsider the concept of progress in the context of educational colonialism in Bangladesh. It attempts to interpret contemporary conditions concerning progress in architectural education in light of a conceptual framework underpinned by two sets of terms borrowed from Freire, and Altbach and Kelly, and updated. Based on this framework, the research reveals historical analysis of two waves of educational colonialism in Bangladesh, supplemented by an empirical analysis of the conception of progress of a selected architecture in Bangladesh. Findings reveal that there is a considerable gap between the conception of progress held by two groups: (a) professional architects and their patrons, and (b) educators, students, and recent graduates of architecture school. This gap suggests that a knowledgeable group of talented youths, with different aspirations is emerging and it will require both a new pedagogy and mode of practice to satisfy them.