The Bangladesh University Grants Commission (UGC) has approved a budget of Tk 10,032.81 crore for 49 public universities in the country in the 2021-2022 fiscal year. Of this, there is a revenue budget of Tk 5,075.81 crore and a development budget of Tk 4,157 crore.
The budget was approved on Thursday (June 18) at the 160th meeting of the commission chaired by the UGC chairman. The UGC Secretary presented the working paper and budget of the meeting.
According to the UGC, the budget allocation in favor of 46 public universities in the last financial year was Tk 8,485.12 crore. As such, the allocation for public universities has increased by about Tk 1,548 crore this year. In the fiscal year 2021-22, Dhaka University has got the highest revenue budget and Habiganj Agricultural University has got the lowest budget.
100 crore 74 lakh has been allocated in the main budget for the research of public universities in higher education in the fiscal year 2021-22. Compared to last year, the budget allocation for this sector has increased by Tk 34 crore. In the last 2020-21 financial year, an allocation of Tk 6.75 crore was made in the original budget. Besides, the commission has approved a budget of Tk 61.36 crore for UGC in the fiscal year 2021-22. Of this, a budget of Tk 18 crore has been allocated for public university research, which is Tk 3 crore more than last year.
Regarding more allocation in the research sector, the UGC chairman said Bangladesh is now a developing country. The government is committed to make Bangladesh one of the developed countries by 2041. If we want to take the country forward by continuing the trend of development, we have to create new knowledge through quality education and research. To meet this goal, UGC has significantly increased the budget for research in the country’s public universities. If the universities can properly spend this money on basic and practical research, the desired goals in higher education and research will be achieved and it will be possible to achieve a respectable place in the world rankings.
