In view of the dismal state of research in Bangladesh, the universities are trying to focus on conducting research in key areas in order to ensure quality education and uphold national interest as well.
University Grants Commission (UGC) as well as public universities will provide more funds in conducting research, fellowship and scholarship for the university teachers and students.
Besides, they have also discussed with various countries to give support for Bangladeshi students through training, fellowship and scholarship in higher education.
UGC Member Professor Dr Md Sazzad Hossain told The Bangladesh Post, “A three-member delegation of American Embassy at Dhaka recently conducted a meeting with UGC members about the cooperation in higher education and research in the country.”
He said, “UGC urged the delegation to provide more scholarships to Bangladeshi students, arrange training for young students at university level. We also asked them for online assessment in higher education and providing full bright scholarships and fellowships through UGC.”
He also said, “UGC always urges universities to conduct more research. However, fund crisis is a matter of concern. We will provide more funds at universities to conduct research in key areas.”
Meanwhile, Turkish ambassador to Bangladesh Mustafa Osman Turan called on Dhaka University vice-chancellor (VC) Professor M Akhtaruzzaman at his office on the university campus on Wednesday.
During the meeting, they discussed matters of mutual interests and exchanged views about expansion of ongoing joint academic and research activities between Dhaka University and universities in Turkey.
They also discussed possibilities of exchange of faculties, researchers and students among DU and Turkish universities.
They gave emphasis on signing agreements among DU and the leading universities in Turkey.
Akhtaruzzaman apprised the ambassador of the brief history of Dhaka University and its academic and research activities.
He sought cooperation from the ambassador in providing a visiting professor from Turkey to teach Turkish Language courses at the Institute of Modern Languages at the university.
The vice-chancellor also sought help and support from Turkey for development and modernisation of DU Energy Institute and generating renewable energy to make DU campus green and clean under a master plan.
Turkish ambassador Mustafa Osman Turan assured the vice-chancellor of providing all possible cooperation.
Turkish ambassador said, “We have historical ties with Asia, especially Bangladesh. We want to enhance our collaborations with Dhaka University.”
“Besides ongoing collaborations, Turkey is interested to extend more support to new areas of academic and research programmes of Dhaka University,” he added.
Public universities allocate between 1 and 5 percent of their total budget for research whereas the lion’s share of the budget is spent for construction work, salary, allowance and other staff.
However, experts said that the allocation for research should be at least 10 to 15 percent of the total budget.
About the research, Jahangirnagar University Professor Dr A A Mamun told The Bangladesh Post, “There is not enough information about research in our university teacher’s profile. If you visit our university profile, most of the teachers have no research paper or publication in their profile. Even who have publications in international journals, do not incorporate it into his or her profile.”
He said that cooperation with foreign universities will help Bangladeshi students as well as teachers in research arena.
Bangladesh is one of the worst performers in the higher education sector compared to other countries in the world.
According to Global Knowledge Index 2020, it ranked 129th out of 138 countries in the world with a score of 24.1 out of 100.
Besides, the country achieved only 16.4 in the Research, Development & Innovation sector and ranked 96th. Moreover, Bangladesh ranked 97th with a score 43.1 in the ICT sector.
In the (latest) annual report of UGC in 2017, it was seen that eight out of the 37 public universities and 47 of the 90 private universities had no research projects.
There has also been a reluctance to accept PhD and MPhil fellowships. Although UGC has 100 PhD fellowships, only 58 teachers accepted it in 2017. Of these, 25 are university teachers and 33 are college teachers.
