Dhaka University (DU) has presented a proposed budget of Tk1,035.45 crore for the upcoming 2025-26 fiscal year, allocating 2.08% of the fund, or Tk21.57 crore, for research grants.
Prof Dr M Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, treasurer of DU, presented the annual budget on Tuesday in the Professor Abdul Matin Chowdhury Virtual Classroom of the Administrative Building.
Research allocation for the current fiscal year is 2.02%, or Tk20.07 crore. The total budget for 2024-25 is Tk945.15 crore.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) will provide Tk883.04 crore from the total budget as grants for the upcoming fiscal year.
Moreover, the university will receive Tk90 crore from internal sources, leaving a deficit of Tk62.41 crore.
Jahangir told Dhaka Tribune: "The university budget funding primarily comes from the UGC. However, the UGC will not provide the full amount DU proposed in its budget, so there is nothing the university administration can do about it."
He further said: "Our main source of internal revenue is student fees, which have remained unchanged at Tk10-Tk12 for the past 20-30 years."
When asked about maintaining similar research funding levels as last year, Jahangir said they could not increase the research allocation because the UGC did not provide the full proposed grant amount.
"Our university needs about Tk1,200 crore to operate properly. But they gave us only Tk850-900 crore, which forces us to compress our budget," he added.
Faculty and staff salaries, allowances, and pensions account for 62.59% of the total budget—Tk648.2793 crore.
Last year, this category received Tk673.1334 crore, representing 67.73% of the previous budget.
A new allocation of Tk1.68 crore has been designated for vehicle grants, which had no allocation in the previous budget.
Additionally, the budget includes Tk285.98 crore for goods and services support, Tk1 crore for primary healthcare support, Tk35.41 crore for equipment grants, Tk4.2 crore for information and communication technology grants, Tk3 crore for other capital grants, and Tk34.31 crore for miscellaneous grants.
