Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is now not a matter of the developed countries only but it is getting increased attention in developing countries like Bangladesh also. A strong perception has developed in recent years among the business managers in Bangladesh that they need to manage their organizations in a socially responsible way for economic viability and long term sustainability in the competitive marketplace. The paper aims to clearly understand the nature of CSR, investigates its evolution in Bangladesh, identifies the opportunities and challenges of CSR practices of banking sector in our country, and also makes some recommendations to overcome those challenges and make the CSR practice a success. Primary and Secondary data collection methods were used to conduct the study. From the study it is anticipated that there will be tremendous growth of CSR initiatives by many national and multinational companies in future.

The study showed the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare expenses including the price of medicines, protective equipment, medical devices, healthcare facilities, and food. A self-administered questionnaire was used as the data collection tool and 400 people from different Bangladesh divisions (Dhaka, Chittagong, Barisal, Khulna, Mymensingh, Rajshahi, and Sylhet) participated in this study. Multiple regression analysis was used to estimate the impact of independent variables on dependent variables. R programming environment was used to perform the statistical analysis. Cronbach’s alpha was used for determination of reliability and found acceptable internal consistency. The price of protective equipment (POPE), the price of a healthcare facilities (POHCF), the consequences of rising prices (CRP), and COVID-19 were independent variables. COVID-19 (CRP) was a dependent variable that measured COVID-19’s impact (IC). The results of the regression analysis indicated a positive and significant impact of POPE, POHCF, and CRP on IC. However, the variance explained was still low (54.4%). Bangladesh should control the prices of all goods and services because of their influence on the impact of COVID-19. Future research should be conducted to discover other variables that affect the impact of COVID-19.

ABSTRACT

This study explores the effect of non-government scholarship programs on students' pursuit of higher education at the graduate and postgraduate level in Bangladesh. The study employed a self-administered questionnaire. It also explored general information about educational scholarships and determined the demographic profile of respondents within respective scholarship programs while pursuing higher education at the university level. The study's respondents comprised 330 students from different public universities, covering Bangladesh's five divisions: Rajshahi, Rangpur, Khulna, Barisal, and Dhaka. The study employed descriptive analysis, Pearson correlation analysis, and regression analysis in testing the hypothesis. Numerical findings from the study suggested that, with the exception of two dimensions-the non-government scholarship program career dimension (p = 0.222) and educational dimension (p = 0.490)-the other five remaining dimensions, consisting of the personal dimension, financial dimension, research and collaboration dimensions, motivational and promotional dimensions, and the intangible dimension, have significant positive effects (p = 0.000) on the dependent variable, which is higher education. Therefore, the evidence suggests that scholarship programs positively affect students pursuing higher education in Bangladesh.

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