Transparency International Bangladesh has “clarified” its position regarding comments made by various government bodies on one of its recent studies on corruption in private universities.
In a media release on Wednesday, it said the study report published on June 30 shed light on irregularities and corruption in 22 selected private universities in the country.
Soon after the release of the report, the Education Ministry and the University Grants Commission (UGC) termed the findings untrue.
On July 2, TIB claimed that the data presented in the study had been collected from the stakeholders of the education sector.
The release also quoted the government bodies as saying that the corruption watchdog did not consult with any of them about the study. TIB's explanation was that it had contacted several officials-employees of the ministry and the commission at various levels of the study and there had been direct telephone conversations and discussions.
It also said the UGC had provided TIB with the information in written form on March 27, 2014.
However, consistent with what TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman said before, the release did not include any detail about the data collection methods, especially about how the 22 universities in question were selected.
It said TIB did not work on corruption at the individual level, but rather on organisational corruption. That was why the report had no details about individuals.
However, the research-oriented NGO hailed the UGC for forming a three-member committee to look into the information that had come up in its report.
The report said while crores of taka changed hands for issues such as getting approvals, amounts as small as Tk500 were exchanged for matters ensuring passing marks for students.
Another finding was that a nexus of ministry and UGC officials and the university authorities paved the way for such irregularities.