News Desk :
University Grants Commission (UGC) has approved a budget of Tk 10,032.81 crore for 49 public universities of the country for the fiscal year of 2021-2022.
Of the amount, revenue budget is Tk 5,085.61 crore, while the development budget is Tk 4,156 crore.
The budget was approved at the 160th meeting of the commission, chaired by UGC chairman Prof Dr Kazi Shahidullah on Thursday.
UGC secretary (Additional Charges) Dr Ferdous Zaman presented the working paper and the budget at the meeting.
In the last financial year, the budget allocation in favour of 47 public universities was Tk 8,485.12 crore. So, the allocation for public universities has increased by Tk 1,548 crore this year. In the fiscal year 2021-2022, Dhaka University got the highest amount of the revenue budget while Habiganj Agricultural University received the lowest amount of the revenue budget.
For the researches at higher education in public universities, Tk 100.74 crore has been allocated in the main budget in the fiscal year of 2021-2022. The allocation in this field has been raised by Tk 34 crore compared to the last year. In the last fiscal year of 2020-2021, Tk 66.65 crore was allocated in the budget.
In addition, the UGC has approved a budget of Tk 61.36 crore for the UGC itself in FY 2021-2022. Of the amount, a budget of Tk 18 crore has been allocated for researches at public universities, which is Tk 3 crore more than that of the last year.
Regarding more allocation in the field of research, the UGC chairman said Bangladesh is now a developing country. The government is committed to making Bangladesh as one of the developed countries by 2041. “If we want to materialise it, we need to create new knowledge through quality education and research. To meet this goal, UGC has significantly increased the budget of the country’s public universities for research. The desired goal will be achieved in higher education and research if the universities can properly spend this money on basic and practical research. Thus, it will be possible to attain a respectable place in the world rankings.
The meeting was also attended by UGC member Prof Dr Dil Afroza Begum, Prof Dr Md. Sajjad Hossain, Prof Dr Muhammad Alamgir, Prof Dr Biswajit Chanda, Prof Dr Md Abu Taher, Prof Dr Sheikh Abdus Salam, Vice-Chancellor of Islamic University, Kushtia; Prof Dr Gautam Buddha Das, Vice-Chancellor of Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University; Prof Dr AQM Mahbub, Vice-Chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman University of Science and Technology; and Prof Dr Md. Waliul Hasanat, Dean of Khulna University’s School of Law.
; Prof Dr Md. Abdul Baset of Sylhet Agricultural University’s Livestock Production and Management Department; and Prof Dr Md. Julhas Uddin, Member of the Planning Commission (Socio-Economic Infrastructure).
The meeting also approved the minutes of the 159th commission’s meeting, reviewed the implementation progress of various decisions taken, and approved the loan sanction policy of Janata Bank Limited for the construction of houses of UGC officials and employees under the corporate guarantee.
