By 2030, Bangladesh aims to meet ambitious targets in line with Sustainable Development Goal 4: “Ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning for all”. But how well is the higher education sector equipped to achieve this goal? On that note, Sir Fazle Hasan Abed KCMG, a lifelong visionary and the founder of the largest NGO in the world, shares his vision of higher education in this paper titled “Higher Education for an emerging middle income country.” Sir Abed suggested actions and strategies regarding pedagogy and teachers, better use of funds, expansion strategies, stronger institutional culture and values and ultimately an effective governance to bring it all together. The author has laid the foundation for a substantial re-thinking of priorities on which a sustainable higher education system can be built that would ultimately contribute to Bangladesh`s goal of becoming a developed country by 2041.