Jagannath University (JnU) Vice-Chancellor (VC) Sadeka Halim said on Thursday that the university's fiscal year 2024-25 budget has increased by Tk 42.25 crore.
The budget for research and innovation has also seen a 4.58 per cent increase, amounting to an additional Tk 9 crore, she revealed this at a seminar held at the conference room of JnU campus.
Sadeka Halim, the former first female information commissioner, attended the seminar as the chief guest.
The seminar was attended by 50 students from the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism (MCJ) at JnU.
The seminar titled, “Fact-checking and Digital Hygiene” focused on digital hygiene, fact-checking, and countering misinformation and was jointly organised by the MCJ department, Media Resources Development Initiative (MRDI), United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The event was chaired by MCJ Chairman and Associate Professor Md Asraful Alam, while MRDI Executive Director Hasibur Rahman was the guest of honour.
MCJ Assistant Professor Minhaz Uddin moderated the seminar.
The seminar featured two interactive sessions. Hasibur Rahman led the session on digital hygiene, and Associate Professor Md Saiful Alam Chowdhury from the Department of MCJ, University of Dhaka, conducted the session on fact-checking.
Sadeka Halim stated in his speech, “JnU faces inequality in budget allocation from the University Grants Commission (UGC). I negotiated with the UGC and successfully secured an additional Tk 4 crore. As a result, the JnU budget will increase by Tk 42 crore compared to the previous year.”
“Our students face many challenges. Despite numerous limitations, they are progressing in all areas. I have addressed the difficulties our students face in the budget and these issues will be resolved gradually,” he added in his speech.
Highlighting the importance of digital hygiene for journalists, Sadeka said, “With social media enabling easy sharing of information, maintaining digital hygiene has become challenging. Both state and non-state actors should be involved in ensuring digital hygiene.”
Hasibur Rahman emphasised the need for fact-checking, saying, “Fact-checking is essential nowadays. We are working on establishing a fact-checking lab and initiating a fact-checking course with the MCJ department at JnU.”
