1.

0 Introduction:

Now-a-days, coaching is becoming more and more popular among students in our
country. After passing the HSC examination, every student dreams to appear in the
admission test of public university and they want a guide to guide themselves for the
preparation to appear in those exams. So, they go to different coaching centers for
getting helps in admission preparation. They often choose these coaching centers by
the help of someone’s recommendation, or sometimes they get attracted by their
advertisements, or sometimes they enroll to the coaching center because of their
reputation.

In Bangladesh there are hundreds of coaching centers functioning in every corner of

the country and thousands of brands are competing with one another. Most coaching
centers are interested in public university admission tests preparation, medical
colleges and public examinations like SSC and HSC. Some coaching centers are also
interested in other things like language courses like IELTS and TOFEL, aptitude tests
like GRE, GMAT, and SAT and so on.

The difference among these coaching canters is of greater significance. This report
will discuss about three famous coaching centers of our country, which are- UCC,
s@ifur’s and Mentors’ and will pay attention to highlight the differences among them.
It will also provide some bad aspects of coaching center and the recommendations on
how to overcome them.

1
2.0 Some basic information about UCC, S@IFUR’S and

MENTORS’:

2.1 Mentors’:

MENTORS' is one of the most reputed admission consulting house dedicated

to preparing students in their admissions, standardized tests and academic
studies since 1996. It's a student-focused institution that offers a vibrant and
inspirational learning environment.

Their enviable reputation in preparing students for admission tests of lBA,

NSU, EWU and other universities in programs like BBA, CSE, MBA, EMBA,
MBM and standardized tests like IELTS, TOLFL, SAT is the testament of
their continued tradition of quality.

MENTORS' has also been sending students to different study destinations, e.g.
USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Malaysia for the last 5 years with
a very good success rate. Their one-stop service that includes initial
counseling, admission, scholarship assistance, visa documentation, traveling
and accommodation has made them one of the most reputed organizations
providing foreign admission services.

About coaching:
 Mentors’ is mainly focused on IBA (BBA) admission test preparation
coaching. It’s also the most popular course of Mentors’.
 They also offer the text based courses like IELTS, SAT, GRE, GMAT,
TOFEL. Now-a-days, IELTS is the most popular course after the IBA (BBA)
admission preparation course.
 They consider themselves best in terms of their quality and teaching methods.
 They have four branches in Dhaka in Kalabagan, Banani, Mouchak, Uttara.
 Outside Dhaka, they have branches in Narayanganj, Chittagong, Sylhet,
Rajshahi, Rangpur, Moulavibazar.

2
About Teachers:
 They recruit their teachers mainly from IBA (BBA) students.
 They also recruit teachers from private universities, if the IELTS score of the
student is 7.5 and above.
 Minimum eight to nine teachers are available for every hundred students.

About students:
 Students, who are willing to get a chance at IBA, are the main client of this
coaching center. Besides this, people who are willing to go to abroad, they can
also attend coaching classes for the tests like IELTS, SAT, GRE etc.
 They standard of each class is of 20-25 students for a course.
 The number of the students varies from season to season. If it is an admission
season of IBA, then the number of the student is probably 600 and above in a
branch. And in case of the off season, the number of the students is 200 to
250.

About classes:
 Model tests are held to check the readiness of the students.
 Each class has duration of 2 hours.

Uniqueness:
 Mentors’ consider themselves unique and monopoly in case of IBA (BBA)
coaching.
 They also consider that, the teaching materials they provide and their teaching
styles are quite different from other coaching centers.

3
2.2 s@IFUR’s:

Saifur’s was founded in 2002 with the aim to provide test preparation support for
Banking JOB, BCS, Spoken and Writing English, other tests such as IELTS, TOEFL,
SAT, GRE and GMAT. After operating few years, they started their admission test
preparation course. And now, this course is very popular and becoming more popular day
by day.

About coaching:
 Saifur’s is mainly focused on Speaking and Writing English courses.
 They also offer admission coaching, text based courses, such as
IELTS, TOEFL, SAT, GRE etc.
 They are also offering an ACCA course, which is only available in
their Panthapath branch in Dhaka.
 They have 30 branches in Dhaka and total 102 branches in Bangladesh.
 They run seven to eight batches daily of different courses.

About Teachers:
 They recruit their teachers mainly from the students of Dhaka
University, as well as from other public universities.
 They recruit their teachers by following some steps.
 Written examination
 Verbal interview
 Train the new teachers under expert teachers.
 Six to seven teachers are available for every hundred students.

About classes:
 Each class has a student capacity of 25 to 30.
 Class tests are daily taken in each class.
 Each class has duration of 2 hours.

4
 About students:
 Students, who want to grab a great knowledge in English, are the
students of this coaching.
 Besides this, people who are willing to sit for university admission test,
and job examinations are also attending this coaching.
 The total number of the students varies from season to season. If it is
an admission season, then the number of the student is more than any
other time.

Uniqueness:
 They consider that, their teaching method is different from other
coaching centers.
 The teachers are trained under expert teachers, so they consider that
they have the best teachers.

2.3 UCC:

UCC was first started its curriculum informally and it formally started in 1986. This
coaching center is mainly established with the purpose of helping students in the
preparation of admission tests in public universities of Bangladesh. But their main
focus is always in the admission at Dhaka University.

About coaching:
 UCC is mainly focused on admission test related studies. They do not
offer any other courses. They had introduced the ACCA course once.
But now this course is not available.
 They also operate the admission test coaching for the students who
wants to appear for the second time in the public university admission
test.
 They have 10 branches in Dhaka and 107 branches in all over
Bangladesh.
 They run 5 batches daily.

5
About Teachers:
 They recruit their teachers mainly from the students of the University
of Dhaka. Other university students are not encouraged to join there. If
encourages, then the rate is very low.
 They recruit their teachers by following some steps.
 Written examination
 Verbal interview
 Demonstration class
 4 teachers are available for every hundred students.

About students:
 Students, who want to sit for the public university admission test,
attend this coaching for getting help in preparation.

About classes:
 Each class has a student capacity of 25 to 30.
 Class tests are daily taken in each class.
 Each class has duration of two hours. First 30 minutes are for class test
on the basis of the previous lecture, and the rest of the time is fixed for
the lecture.

Uniqueness:
 They have arranged a program named intensive care program examination,
which is held likely as the Dhaka University admission test.

6
3.0 Our findings:
Coaching centers should be established with a purpose of helping the students.
But sometimes, it influences the students negatively. Students often get admitted
there only in the coaching centers by thinking that they would get a chance into
the university. The coaching center authority influences them to believe that, they
would get a chance in the public university if they would get admitted to that
coaching and often the students join the coaching centers because of someone’s
reference. Very few students enroll to a coaching center for their quality. In this
case, the word of mouth influence works very well.

We went to these three coaching centers, UCC, S@IFUR’S and MENTORS’.

They are different from one another. We have personally talked to the
administration personnel and gathered some information about these coaching
centers. On the basis of these information we have identified some unique
characteristics of these coaching centers and we have tried to compare among
them. The comparisons are given below and the related papers are attached to the
appendix to give detailed information about these coaching centers.

7
4.0 Comparison among UCC, s@ifur’s, MENTORS’:

Numbers of the students: These three coaching centers are famous in

their own field. In our survey, we have found that, in case of the public
university admission test preparation, most of the students attend UCC for
preparing themselves. We have shown an approximate percentage of the
students in the graph below-

Number of the Students

60% 55%
50%
Percentage

40%
30% 25%
20%
20%
10%
0%
Mentors Saifurs UCC
Name of the Coaching

Teacher’s selection process: The selection process of teachers in these

coaching centers is quite similar but a little bit different. Though all of them
take written examination and verbal interview. But-
 For recruiting, Mentors’ focuses on the IELTS score.
 UCC recruit teachers only among Dhaka University students.
 Saifur’s give their teachers special training before they let them take
classes.

Uniqueness:
 UCC: Intensive care program.
 Saifur’s: The teachers are trained under expert teachers, so they
consider that they have the best teachers.
 Mentors’: Mentors’ consider themselves unique and monopoly in case
of IBA coaching.

8
Popular courses: These coaching centers are offering different courses to its
students. Among them these coaching centers are famous for different courses.

Coaching Name Popular Courses

UCC 1. Admission Coaching
Mentors’ 1. Admission coaching for IBA
2. IELTS
Saifur’s 1.0 Speaking and Writing English
2.0 Bank job examination preparation
3.0 IELTS
4.0 Admission coaching

Examination system:
 UCC:
 Daily class test in the first thirty minutes of the classes.
 Special model tests after 4 classes of a subject have been taken.
 Several model tests before the admission test to strengthen the
student’s preparation.
 Saifur’s:
 In case of English courses, special tests are taken in weekly
basis.
 In the bank job’s courses, model tests are held on a monthly
basis.
 Mentors’:
 Daily class tests.
 Weekly tests.
 Monthly tests

Admission fees: All the coaching centers charge huge amount of money for
their courses. The duration of each course is from 3 to 4 months. And they all
charge almost the same amount. The amount of the fees is too much higher to
afford for a student, who comes from a background of a middle class family.

9
  Mentors’:

Serial Course name Fees (Tk)

no.
1. Bank job 10,000
2. BBA(IBA) 16.000
3. EMBA 9,000
4. Foundation grammar and writing 4,500
5. GED 23,000
6. GRE 16,000
7. IELTS 10,000
8. MBA 12,000
9. Private university 12,500
10. SAT 15,000
11. Spoken English and phonetics 5,000

 Saifur’s:

Serial Course name Fees

no
1. Practical spoken 10,000
2. Writing 10,000
3. IELTS 15,000
4. Phonetics 10,000
5. MBA 13,500
6. New job 12,000
7. Basic computer 7,000
8. BCS Preli 20,000
9. Math er Zero to Hero 6,000
10. Advanced varsity coaching 15,000

10
  UCC:

Serial Course name Fees

no.
1. C Unit 15,000
2. A Unit/B Unit/D Unit/BBA(IBA) 13,000
3. C Unit+D Unit 22,000
4. A Unit+D Unit/B Unit+D Unit 20,000
5. C Unit+IBA 21,000
6. 3 Units together 25,000

Profit: We have taken some interviews from the teachers and employees of
UCC, S@ifur’s and Mentors’. From there, we have collected some
information about the salary of the teachers and the employees. Through our
research, we have noticed that, every coaching center maintains 2 teachers and
1 employee against 20 students to help the students. We have tried to calculate
the profit of these coaching centers get admitted in the admission test
preparation courses.Here is a table of their approximate profit on per session

Names of Average Approximate

coaching number profit
centers of
students

UCC 700 87,60,000

S@ifurs 400 40,70,000

Mentors’ 600 70,20,000

11
 Graph: Profit

UCC S@IFUR'S MENTORS'

From the above graph, we can see that, Mentors’ and UCC is gaining the highest
profit at present. Students are more attracted to them because of their quality of study
and another reason of their profit is Mentors’ monopolistic influence in IBA
admission preparation coaching and UCC’s large number of successful students. So,
their revenues are high because of the university admission coaching.

Although most of the students go to Mentors’ for the preparation of the IBA
admission test but they are not gaining the higher profit than UCC. Because, their
maintenance costs is higher than UCC.

S@ifur’s is gaining the less profit in admission test preparation coaching. Because,
the course has introduced recently in this coaching and students are less attracted
towards its admission preparation coaching classes. That’s why it is gaining less profit
than Mentors’ and UCC.

12
 Student Preference: Students prefer different coaching center for
different courses which is shown in the form of graph below:

TOEFL
GRE
SAT
Mentors'
GMAT
S@ifurs
IELTS
UCC
IBA
University admission

0 5 10

From the above graph, we can see the student’s preference of coaching centers for
different courses on the scale from 0 to 10. Note that UCC doesn’t teach any courses
other than IBA and university admission courses. For TOEFL we can see that the students
prefer Mentors’ and S@ifurs equally. For GRE course student preference for Mentors’ is
higher than S@ifur’s. It’s also same for GMAT. But for IELTS student preference is
almost same. But for IBA coaching Mentors’ is preferred by most students than S@ifurs
and UCC. As for UCC, they have the most preference for university admission coaching

13
5.0 Student’s feedback:

These coaching centers are mainly dependent on its students. They provide different
courses for students. But they all have admission test based coaching classes set for the
students who want to appear in the public university admission test. Every coaching
center is established with the purpose of helping students in admission test preparation,
but each has a uniqueness of its own.

The thinking of the students is highlighted in this section. We have done a survey with
the help of some students and we are providing the details of that survey below. And the
survey questionnaire is attached with the appendix.

UCC: In UCC, students come from Dhaka city as well as from outside Dhaka.
They have many branches outside Dhaka. But most of the students come to
Dhaka city instead of going to these branches. They have stated that, the
quality of the branches is very poor. Even the teachers are not very much
qualified.

Most of the students enroll here because someone has recommended them.
Some of the students enroll here because it is a well-known coaching center.

Students have stated that, the teachers of the UCC encourage them to attend
the coaching center for the second time admission test.

We have also talked with the past students. Their experience with UCC was
rough. They stated that the teachers encouraged them to join extra tuition
classes after the coaching classes.

UCC also encourages students to buy their own published books for the help
in admission preparation. But the books are high priced and sometimes the
students were bound to buy those books.

14
S@ifur’s: Saifur’s is mainly famous for its advertisements. They have a
unique way to advertise themselves. From our survey, we have identified that,
many students are attracted towards S@ifur’s because of its advertisements.
Some students join there because it is a well-known and reputed coaching
center.

S@ifur’s encourages its students to buy their books. They have many types of
books of their own publication. The books are also bought by the other
students who are not the students of S@ifur’s. Their publication business is
very much strong. Many students, who are not the students of S@ifur’s also
buy their books. They have grabbed the book market that most of the students
follow their books.

Most of the students join here in the English based courses and job
examination preparation courses. Their admission based courses are not so
popular yet, because it has been started from 5 to 6 years.

Mentors’: Mentors’ is famous for its unique teaching style and good quality.
Most of the students stated that they have the best quality teachers. Students
who want to get admitted into IBA (BBA), goes to this coaching center for
getting help in the preparation.

Students have stated that they do not have to join extra tuition classes and the
teachers are very helpful. The lectures are very rich and very helpful to gain
knowledge.

Past students of Mentors’ have stated that, it provides the best quality and they
would like to recommend this coaching center to others. It focuses on the
quality of the studies.

They do not force their students to buy their books. But the students buy those
books at their own will because of the quality and the richness provided by the
books.

15
6.0 Identified problems:

We have done some surveys by the help of some students, and from the survey, we have
identified some problems which are very threatening to assure the quality. The problems
are discussed below-

 Poor branch quality: These coaching centers have branches outside Dhaka,
especially S@ifur’s and UCC have many branches outside Dhaka. But, however
many students are still come to Dhaka for reading in these coaching centers. So, it
clearly states that, these coaching centers are not maintaining the same quality for
their branches. Although they consider that, all the branches are of same quality,
but reality differs far from the expectation.

 Publication business: These coaching centers provide sheets for helping the
students. But still they force indirectly the students to buy the books of their
publications. They tell the students that if they would not buy the books, they
won’t get chance in any university. So, the students have to buy these books. They
also encourage them to distribute among their peers.

 Influence students for second time preparation: Some coaching center

advice the students for attending the second time coaching centers, if they do not
get chance in any universities on their first attempt. The teachers influence them to
participate in the exam for the second time. But it is quite harmful for a regular
student. Because, if he or she doesn’t get a chance in their second attempt, he or
she might get into a deep depression.

 Overcrowded batch: From our survey, we have pointed out that, the batches
are very much crowded. Although the administrations of these coaching centers
consider that, class capacity is about 20 to 25 students, but students stated that, the
reality is quite different. Every class contains at least 35 to 40 students, which is
too much in compared to the standard.

16
 Advertisement: These coaching centers mainly advertise themselves by
drawing posters on the walls. It makes our city filthy. They also distribute leaflets
to introduce themselves. But nobody reads those leaflets, rather than people throw
these leaflets on the streets. So, the streets become filthy. As well as these
methods has become very old. So, they should find any alternative way to
advertise themselves.

 Higher fees: Admission fees for these coaching centers are too high to afford
for the middle class people. Because of these higher fees, many students who are
brilliant but their financial background is poor cannot get admission in these
coaching centers. So, they lack behind. Although it is possible to get chance in
public university without these coaching centers. But it leads students and shows
them a direction for studies. So, it should be available for everyone.

 Fake role model: There is a rumor about UCC that, they approach the students
who have become 1st, 2nd or 3rd in the university admission exams. So that these
brilliant students can be shown as the students of UCC who have achieved success
because of the unique teaching method of UCC. But the real scenario is these role
models never studied in UCC and they are willing to give permission to use their
pictures for advertisement in exchange for money.

17
7.0 Conclusion:

At last we can say that apart from some courses, the teaching method is almost same
for all the coaching centers. They all think that they are different from others, but in
the true sense they are not. Although S@ifurs and Mentors’ was able to maintain their
goodwill for the English courses but they are not able to fulfill the need of the
students properly.

UCC is also falling behind as they used to teach courses such as ACCA, CAT and
many other courses. But now these courses are history in UCC. Because of the lack of
demand as people are getting smarter day by day. So a unique marketing method
alone won’t help them in the long run.

By comparing UCC, Mentors’ and S@ifurs together we can see that UCC and
Mentors’ earning the most profit and each of them has their own popularity according
to different courses. According to student feedback each has a unique way to attract
students. We have identified some problems which can be solved by implementing
some recommendation.

This research is done by undergraduate students so there are some limitations. A

better research can be done by having a greater understanding of the topic, utilization
of other resources like budget forecasts and the statement of changes in financial
position.

At this point these coaching centers may not do well in the long run unless they
implement some changes.

18
8.0 Recommendations:
For coaching centers, we have come up with some recommendations which should be
implemented. They are:
 All the branches should maintain the same quality and the teachers should be
of the same quality.
 The classrooms should not be overcrowded. They should maintain a standard.
 Numbers of the teachers should be increased.
 They can increase the use of online advertisement, print media, and word of
mouth influence instead of using the walls of the city. It makes the city filthy.
 They should decrease their fees or they should arrange some kind of
scholarship for the intellectual but insolvent students.
 If the sheets are richer, then the students will not have to buy books. Or they
should decrease the price of the books.
 They should stop deceiving people by portraying fake role model as they
exhibit that brilliant students are their students, who weren’t the student of
their coaching centers.

19
9.0 Appendix:

1. Survey questionnaire of students: We have done some surveys with the help
of some students. The questionnaire is given below-

Survey Questionnaire (Students)

1. Gender
a. Male
b. Female
2. From where did you come?
a. I live in Dhaka
b. Outside Dhaka
3. What do you think about this coaching center? Is this helpful for studies?
a. Helpful
b. Not helpful
4. Do the teachers are helpful?
a. Yes
b. No
5. Do you need to buy books besides sheets?
a. Yes
b. No
6. Is the lecture is enough for the admission preparation?
a. Yes
b. No
7. Does the coaching center provide enough facilities to build your skills?
a. Yes
b. No
8. What do you think about the fees?
a. Too high
b. Reasonable
c. Cheap

20
9. Do the teachers encourage you to attend the second time coaching classes?
a. Yes
b. No
10. Do you think it’s possible to get a chance in the universities without these coaching
centers?
a. Yes
b. No
11. Do you think that the batches are overcrowded?
a. Yes
b. No
12. Why have you chosen this coaching center?

13. Which course do you read in?

a. Admission coaching
b. IELTS
c. English speaking
d. Others
14. Will you recommend this coaching center to others?
a. Yes
b. No

2. Survey questionnaire for the administration: We have talked to the

administrative personnel in UCC, s@ifur’s and Mentors’.

Survey Questionnaire (Administration)

1. How many students are in a batch?

2. How many teachers are available for every 100 students?
3. How many branches you have in Dhaka?
4. How many branches you have in Bangladesh?

21
5. How many courses you offer and which course is the most popular in your coaching
center?
6. How many batches in a day for particular courses?
7. How you recruit your teachers? What qualifications they should have to teach here?
8. Do you publish your books regularly? Do outsiders buy these books or only the
students of this coaching?
9. Whom you think your competitor?
10. What price do you charge for per course?
11. What is the number of students in each branch?
12. How many employees do you have for administrative purposes?
13. What makes you guys different from others?
14. How you advertise yourself to attract students?
15. Why do you think that you provide the best quality?
16. Do you have any further plan for the students?

22