Three research centres of the University of Dhaka University have to do any research for 25 to 33 years, officials said.
The centres are Dev Centre for Philosophical Studies, the Centre for Advanced Research in Humanities and Nazrul Research Centre.At least 10 other centres have failed to carry out any research for nine to five years.
A senior teacher at the university, which runs 39 research centres, said that it was a sheer wastage of public money. ‘Research has been a neglected sector in the university.’
The university authorities allocated Tk 2.73 crore in the 2013–14 financial year, Tk 1.96 crore in the 2012–13 financial year, Tk 1.04 crore in the 2011–12 financial year and Tk 1.27 crore in the 2010–11 financial year for research.
Dev Centre for Philosophical Studies has failed to do any research since its establishment 33 years go in 1980. The Centre for Advanced Research in Humanities has failed to do any research since its establishment 29 years ago in 1984 and Nazrul Research Centre has not done any research since its establishment 25 years ago in 1988.
Nazmul Karim Study Centre has not done any research since its establishment in 2000, the Dr Serajul Haque Islamic Research Centre since 2002, the University and Industry Alliance since 2004, Professor Dilip Kumar Bhattacharya Research Centre since 2005, the Centre for Administrative Research and Innovations and the Dhaka University History Research Centre since 2007, the Centre for Buddhists Heritage and Culture and the Centre for Inter-religious and Inter-Cultural Dialogue since 2008, the Centre for Moral Development and the Bangladesh Cultural Research Centre since 2009.
Officials at the centres blamed fund crunch, lack of facilities, administrative tangles and irregularities for research not being done. The university budget book, however, shows an increase in the amount of allocation for research.
Teachers of the university expressed their disappointment at not research being carried out and said this was unfortunate for the university.
They said that funds were supposed to be spent on fundamental research to generate knowledge.
The university vice-chancellor, AAMS Arefin Siddique, said, ‘We cannot monitor or take any action as we cannot provide them [research centres] with adequate funds.’
The University Grants Commission chairman, AK Azad Chowdhury, also a former Dhaka University vice-chancellor, said as many centres had failed to do research, the overall quality of the university was declining. ‘The university should be be a research-based institution.’
‘As the teachers are not doing research, their work is not making any impact on the image of the university,’ Professor emeritus Serajul Islam Chowdhury said.
‘Teachers’ promotion is now based on work experience and not publications. This is why they are not interested in research,’ he added.
Directors of the research centres alleged that on many occasions, they received amounts less than what was allocated.
They also alleged that the ‘irregularities’ in fund disbursement and research material procurement had also deepened the crisis.
Officials at Dev Centre for Philosophical Studies said that they had not done any research in 33 years. The research centre publishes journals called Darshan O Pragati and Philosophy and Progress and hold every year. It holds annual memorial lectures commemorating Govinda Chandra Dev after whom the centre was named and special seminars every four or five months.
The centre’s director Azizunnahar Islam blamed limited budget for no researche being done and declined further comments.
According to the university’s annual reports, Nazrul Research Centre has yet to do any research since its establishment.
The Centre for Advanced Research in Humanities has also to do research for 25 years, officials said.
The Nazrul Research Centre director, ATM Nurur Rahman, also chairman of the Centre for Advanced Research in Humanities, said, ‘Research centres are on paper only. No research has so far been conducted.’
No programme or project has been initiated in the History Research Centre between 2007 and 2012. ‘A building, financed by the Dutch Bangla Bank, was constructed in the period,’ the centre’s founding director AHM Ahmed Kamal said.
‘The director of accounts has been delaying the signing of a file on the introduction of a fellowship,’ the Bio-Mmedical Research Centre director, Abu Sara Shamsur Rauf, said.
The Serajul Haque Islamic Research Centre has published only one journal (two editions) in 2010 since its establishment in 2002.
According to the annual reports and university officials, the Centre for Administrative Research and Innovation has so far held one roundtable conference in 2010 and carried out a national survey on people’s perception on the police in 2011. It has also initiated the publication of a journal called Governance and Innovation in the 2010–11 session but the journal has yet to be published.
The Centre for Inter-religious and Inter-Cultural Dialogue has also held a few dozen seminars, discussions and exhibitions on various occasions. Its secretary, Md Abdur Rahim, said that no research had been conducted so far. ‘We have plans to extend our activities now limited to discussion.’
Nazmul Karim Study Centre was set up for advanced research in sociology, anthropology and social psychology but it has so far conducted no research, a former director said.
The Centre for Buddhists Heritage and Culture since its establishment in 2008 has organised a training workshop called ‘Save Archaeological Sites.’
The Centre for Advanced Research in Social Sciences also spends more than 85 per cent of its allocation on various programmes. ‘We are left with no surplus for research after publishing two journals,’ the director, Shafi-uz-Zaman, said.
Research depends on the people who are in charge of the centres, the vice-chancellor said. ‘Some research centres are doing extremely well while some others fail only because of their own callousness.’
AK Azad Chowdhury said, ‘The university allocation is not adequate to carry out any single research.’
‘But there are hopes as we have allocated about Tk 400 crore for 26 public universities and taken necessary initiatives to carry out research,’ he said. ‘Our efforts will come to fruition in about two and three years.’
The university has allocated Tk 15 lakh for seminars and workshops in the 2013–14 financial year apart from its allocations for research.
Courtesy of New Age
