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Bandarban University is running amid various financial, administrative and academic irregularities.
The university is reportedly violating the Private University Act-2010 and the rules and regulations of the University Grant Commission (UGC).
The UGC has already found evidences of the irregularities and gave a 23-point recommendation to the University to ensure quality higher education.
On July 19, the UGC sent a letter along with the recommendations to the registrar of the university. The letter was signed by UGC Private University Division Director Md Omar Faruque.
A UGC source said following allegations of irregularities the commission earlier formed a committee to probe the allegations brought against Bandarban University.
The committee visited the university campus on May 26 and May 27 and made the 23 recommendations after it found proofs of the allegations.
However, Bandarban University Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Imam Ali told The Business Post that they had received the recommendations sent by the UGC and said: “We have already discussed the matter at a meeting.”
“We will do everything following the instructions to run the university transparently and I will not compromise with any kind of corruption at the university,” he asserted.
According to the UGC probe report, the private university is conducting six programmes with only 12 full-time teachers - three professors and nine lecturers - against 450 students while the number of officers is only five.
As the rules go every programme at a private university must have at least four full-time teachers and one of them should be of the rank of at least Associate Professor but the university is not following the rules.
About the poor number of teachers, VC Prof Dr Imam Ali said: “We have 12 full-time and 10 part-time teachers against 450 students. We are also trying to recruit more teachers to ensure quality education at the university.”
The university was badly affected due to the coronavirus pandemic as the number of students and teachers are poor, he added
According to Section 44 (2) of the Private Universities Act-2010, general funds of the University will be conducted through a signature by an officer of the University nominated by the Board of Trustees (BoT) and the Treasurer appointed by the Chancellor.
But the University is conducting financial activities through a board of trustee member.
UGC said the BoT member is signing the check and that is why all financial transactions are not acceptable to the commission as legal.
The university is giving poor salaries to its teachers who even did not get any salary during the coronavirus pandemic. The UGC asked the university to take steps in this regard and inform the commission in a month.
It was also found that regular meetings of different committees are not held at the university and even audit is not conducted by the Education Ministry-nominated audit institution.
The UGC also found a disqualified teacher named Hasan Mahmud, a lecturer of the English Department, not having required qualification. The UGC asked the university authorities to cancel his appointment.
There is no full-time registrar, director (finance and accounts), librarian, dean, proctor, advisor (student welfare), public relation officer and examination controller at the university. The UGC asked it to fill the posts immediately following law.
Bandarban University has a Board of Trustee consisting of 21 members as per the Trust Act-1882 and the registration under the Societies Registration Act - 1860 is under process.
The UGC directed the university to complete the registration with the Joint Stock Companies and Firms as soon as possible.
The UGC in the probe report said the University does not have a fixed salary structure for its teachers, officers and employees. The salaries paid to the faculty members, officers and staff are inadequate in the current socio-economic context.
Such a poor amount of salary may affect the teaching and research quality of the university. So a realistic pay structure will have to be fixed and it should be properly implemented within the next two months.
The UGC also found that the Hospitality and Tourism Management Department being conducted at the university without signing any MoU with any hotels, motels or restaurants to run the course properly.
The UGC asked it to sign a MoU with an international standard hotel, motel or restaurant within a month.
It also said the on-going academic programmes of the university should be prepared on the basis of outcome-based education (OBE) curriculum and submit it to the commission by September 30.
The UGC in its recommendation said during the visit to the university, it was known that two members of the BoT had been appointed as advisors by the BoT.
The verbal appointments would create scope for undue interference in the institution.
There is no Institutional Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) at the university and the commission said there was no alternative to forming the IQAC as per the law to ensure quality education.
