Academicians often cite insufficient grants allocated by the University Grants Commission as a reason for poor number of research work.

But surprisingly, the Dhaka University authorities failed to spend the total funds they got in three fiscal years since fiscal 2018-2019, show university documents.

However, the authorities said they could spend all the allocation in fiscal year 2021-22.

Some prominent academicians and teachers of the university opined that teachers' reluctance to carry out research and researchers' failure to complete their work within a fiscal year are the two major reasons behind a part of the grants going unused every fiscal year.

For the small number of research work, the country's largest and oldest educational institution continues to drop in the renowned global university rankings as research is considered one of the key parameters in preparing ranking.

Asked, DU Vice-Chancellor Prof Md Akhtaruzzaman said, "The allocation for research is too small to do basic research. Our teachers demand bigger funds for this. But we cannot provide as our research allocation is inadequate. Our teachers lose interest due to the small budget."

According to the documents, the university authorities received around Tk 36.22 crore as research allocation in the last four fiscal years.

Of the amount, Tk 9.59 crore went unused.

In the fiscal 2020-21, nearly two thirds -- Tk 5.68 crore -- of the allocated Tk 9.50 crore, which is the highest in three fiscal years since fiscal 2018-2019, were unutilised, according to the university budget book.

Requesting to be unnamed, a university official said the allocation DU gets has to be used within a fiscal year. Those who failed to finish the research work within that specific fiscal year cannot withdraw the total amount. Besides, some teachers abandoned their research projects halfway for foreign studies, the official added.

Prof Biman Chandra Barua, of DU's Pali and Buddhist Studies, who has recently done a research work with the university allocation, said if a teacher wants to conduct a research, they have to submit a proposal on their topic first. The teacher can start the work only after the university authorities approve the proposal.

"The process is time-consuming. As we start the work late, the work cannot be completed in due time. So, a teacher cannot get the full allocated fund for a research," said Prof Biman.

Talking to this correspondent, Prof Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed, treasurer of Dhaka University, said researchers and the authorities of the research centre are not serious. "If they demand money on time from us, we can use the full allocation."

"Although our research allocation is really insufficient, we cannot use it in full. It is regretful matter. If this situation goes on, we get less allocation that we now get. We are worried over the issue," he added.

A senior teacher and administrator of the university told The Daily Star, wishing to be unnamed, said some teachers' disinterest in conducting research became evident when a section of teachers opposed the university's decision, made last year, of mandating PhD degrees to get promoted as associate professors and professors.

Former teachers of the university, who have been demanding an increase in research allocation for a long time, expressed disappointment over the unused research grants.

Prof ABM Faroque, former teacher of DU's pharmacy department and an eminent researcher, said, "It is the failure of the university authorities that they could not use the funds properly. We have to be self-critical. Even many of them who got the grants did not utilise these properly."

Prof Abul Kashem Fazlul Haque, former teacher of DU's Bangla department, told this newspaper that many of the university teachers, who are carrying out research work, opted for research with NGO funds as the amount is bigger than UGC allocation.

UGC member Prof Dil Afroza Begum said they know that Dhaka University cannot spend all the allocated funds. "If this situation continues, we will bring down the grants."

Prof Mohammad Tanzimuddin Khan, of Dhaka university's international relations department, said a research-oriented academic and administrative structure makes teachers more dedicated to research.

He said the objectives of universities are to find out new things through research which will help the universities notch up in global university ranking. Universities in Latin America even are doing much better in research. 

"We failed to define the character of Dhaka university as a university. Enough research is not being done here and experts on different subjects are not made."

"For this, we cite the foreign scholars while writing books or research reports," Tanzimuddin added.