Universities do little research to 'help industry grow'

The country needs to prioritise its research topics based on the national agenda to get the optimal outcome for academia and industry, a top academic said Thursday.
"We should prioritise our research based on national agenda, how will we support our industry without research?" Vice Chancellor of BRAC University Professor Syed Saad Andaleeb said.
He was speaking at the inauguration ceremony of a two-day international conference at a hotel in Dhaka.
BRAC Business School (BBS) of BRAC University organised the 1st International Conference on Business and Management aiming to provide a forum for academics, researchers and practitioners to exchange ideas and to discuss recent developments in the field of Business and Management.
Mr Andaleeb said Bangladeshi universities and academies were not much interested to do research to help grow the industry, business and manufacturing.
He said that some academicians say there is not fund, but it is not true.
"There is a lot of money. The funding goes to the private sector. They do research, which should have done by universities. Quality of research from the private sector is questionable," he said.
Speaking at the programme, Professor Dr Mark GOH from Singapore said the industry, business, supply chain should be changed internally before the changes coming from outside.
He said disruptive technologies would change the environment, society, economy and the people's lives. They should be prepared for that.
Professor Mirza Azizul Islam and Professor Dr Salehuddin Ahmed conducted the inaugural session.
The conference is expected to foster networking, collaboration and joint efforts among the conference participants to advance theories and practices in business and management in relation to global and contemporary practices.

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