A proposal of the University Grants Commission (UGC) for introducing unified financial rules for all public universities in the country has been cold-shouldered by a section of the institutions, officials have said.
They alleged that big and reputed universities were unwilling to follow the unified financial guidelines and accounting system in apprehension of losing their existing unethical facilities.
To prevent the financial irregularities and waste of public money in running the autonomous institutions, the university regulator in cooperation with the University Parishad, a platform of public universities, took the initiative in 2010.
"Unfortunately, there is no headway in implementation of the much-hyped financial policy even four years after the initiative", said Mohammed Ibrahim Kabir, convener of the nine-member committee that formulated the financial rules.
Mr Kabir, also UGC's director of accounts, told the FE that on consultations with the university authorities, the committee had formulated the policy.
"Although, initially the public universities had showed great fascination and helped formulate the unified financial rules, now they are showing reluctance to implement it in their respective universities", he said.
Currently, the country's public universities are following dissimilar accounting systems of their own.
Although, salary structures of the public university teachers are almost similar, the universities usually follow their own rules and regulations in doing additional work like holding examinations and question paper evaluation.
"Presently, there are no specific rules and regulations in this connection. As a result, audit teams every year notice some irregularities", Mr Kabir said.
Some universities were also unhappy about the issue, he added.
He said the committee identified a total of 16 areas, including general guidelines for financial management, various fees and charges and ensuring equal salary and other facilities for all public universities.
The UGC's director said mainly old and reputed universities were showing reluctance to follow the newly-formulated policy as they were enjoying more facilities than the benefits suggested in the proposal.
The institutions include Dhaka University, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) and Rajshahi University.
"If they think the proposed policies should be revised and provide specific facilities including additional funds for the universities' usual work like holding examinations and answer script evaluation, the committee will reconsider it", Mr Kabir said.
The majority of the committee members are from public universities.
When contacted, Association of Universities of Bangladesh (AUB) Chairman Prof Md Ruhul Amin said they were still hopeful of implementing the unified financial rules for public universities.
"It's true, some universities, specifically the prominent and big ones, are reluctant to work in this regard as they are already enjoying more facilities than the benefits suggested in the proposal", the chairman, also Vice Chancellor of Haji Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University (HSTU), said.
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