The garment exporter's apex body is going to set up a university to meet the demand for skilled professionals in the sector and reduce dependency on foreign nationals, according to entrepreneurs.

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has been running the 'Institute of Fashion and Technology', offering opportunities to students to complete courses on different disciplines of the garment sector, they added.

The entrepreneurs of BGMEA have applied to the government to upgrade the institute to a university by fulfilling all the terms and conditions.

"We applied to the government by fulfilling all conditions of the government. We have already purchased land to build university in the city," President of BGMEA Mr Md. Shafiul Islam (Mohiuddin) told the FE Wednesday.

He said the university will be able to make the new generation educated with time befitting technical knowledge that will meet the demand of the sector as well as help save foreign currency paid as wages to the foreign nationals working at different industries.

He said the ready made garment (RMG) sector has achieved an impressive export growth in recent days despite global recession and some limitations such as power and gas shortages.

The present growth could be increased significantly if the country has skilled manpower in the sector.

"At present the garment sector (knit, woven and sweater sections combined) has only 25 per cent local skilled manpower. The sector has been relying mostly on foreign nationals who are working with different garment industries and taking a substantial amount of foreign currency every year to their individual country," he said.

"The present growth of RMG is about 42 per cent. And if we have sufficient skilled manpower then it will be possible to double the growth," he asserted.

He said that about 18,000 to 20,000 foreign nationals, mostly Indian and Sri Lankan, have been working at different levels of the garment industries in the country. Their monthly average salary is about US $ 1,500.

"The garment sector has a good job prospect. Students will get jobs after completion of their courses offered by the university," the President of BGMEA said.

"A student, after successfully completing his/ her courses can easily earn Tk 10,000 as monthly salary in the knit and woven sections and between Tk 10,000 and Tk 17,000 in the sweater section," he mentioned.

The "Institute of Fashion and Technology" of BGMEA has been offering certificate and diploma courses on fashion design and merchandising.