RESEARCH in public universities is constrained by a couple of propositions. Whilst the funds allocated for research remain inadequate, the universities fail to spend whatever amount of the fund allocated. And, all this holds frustrates the purpose of research in the centres of tertiary education which are meant to create knowledge, giving the government and society the insight into areas where the government needs to work on. Inadequate funding limits both the number and quality of research. In such a situation, the research that public universities conduct fails to play any significant role. A teacher of the Institute of Education and Research says that limited funds do not allow researchers to plan anything large-scale. A research project, he says, can get Tk 1 million in the maximum, which forces researchers to scale down the scope of the research and work on small-samples or areas that results in the outcome that often fails to come to aid of the government or society. The Rangamati Science and Technology University, where research is conducted only by teachers of computer science and engineering, management, tourism and hospitality management, and forestry and environmental science departments, can provide teachers a fifth or a third of a million takas for each research.
Such a situation causes a poor standard of research in public universities by any international standard. Yet, experts say that although the funding is inadequate, the authorities cannot spend the funds allocated properly. The University Grants Commission reports show that public universities had a revised budget of about Tk 1.21 billion for research in the 2022鈥�2023 financial year, but the universities could spend about Tk 1.03 billion. The financial year before, the universities had the revised budget of about Tk 1 billion, but the universities could spend Tk 858.19 million. There are marked failures on part of the university to have been able to use the allocated fund efficiently. Allegations have it that political affiliation played a role in granting funds for research to teachers, especially during the tenure of the fallen Awami League government. Many eligible teachers have not received funds for research because of their leaning towards the political parties in the opposition. The process is also reported to be cumbersome. Some teachers say that funds for research remain unused because of bureaucratic complexities. Researchers need to obtain permission of several authorities for access to the funds which only discourages them from proceeding with their research plans. This is another reason research funds remain unused.
Universities without research are anything but universities. Whilst the government should, therefore, increase the funding for research in public universities by a large margin, the universities, aided by the University Grants Commission, should attend to the inefficiencies and irregularities that hold back effective, adequate research to meaningfully afford the nation the benefits of research.
