It needs no mentioning that the country’s universities have fallen way behind in providing good scientific research papers. As reported by this daily on Tuesday, some 125 public and private universities in the country all together spent only Tk 153 crore on research activities in 2019. This is quite a sorry figure for the country as the quality of higher education depends on research, publications and good teaching.
Based on the information submitted to the University Grant Commission (UGC), at least 56 universities had no publication last year. None of the teachers of these universities could publish any article, periodical or research paper in any journal.
Conducting research is important not only for creating a skilled labour force but also for nurturing new discoveries that improve our lives and the lives of others around the world. Therefore, there is no alternative than to grant more investments for research purpose.
Number of quality research should be increased at the universities
by increasing the budget to the sector and developing facilities
by forming specialized research institutes
In Bangladesh, meritorious teachers are turning away from research due to lack of goodwill, good labs, inadequacy in allocation for research, non-recognition of good research, and giving priority to political ideology over research in promotion.
With such demean factors and less research funding given to the universities, we as tax payers, have every right to question how these universities are performing compared to other world universities.
Both public and private universities should give more emphasis on conducting research.
Our poor performance in terms of conducting research drags us through the mud. Hence, number of quality research should be increased at the universities by increasing the budget to the sector and developing facilities by forming specialized research institutes.
