Tk 400m to come from internal resources, Tk 3.71b from UGC

A Tk 4.25 billion (425 crore) revenue budget for Dhaka University (DU) for the upcoming fiscal year (FY) 2015-2016 is set to be placed before the university's Senate today (Saturday), sources have said.
According to documents, a major portion of the budget will be spent for salaries and other benefits of teachers and the other DU staff, as about 75.33 per cent of the total amount has been set aside for this purpose.
Allocation for education and research is to get very negligible portion, only 12.99 per cent, under the annual financial plan.  
DU treasurer Prof Dr Kamal Uddin will place the budget at the university's annual caucus today for approval from its highest decision making body.
The university's vice chancellor Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique will preside over the budget-placing session.
According to the plan, of the total budget outlay, Tk 400 million will be sourced from the university's internal resources, mainly from the university students and its landed properties and Tk 3.71 billion will be collected from the University Grants Commission (UGC).
From the written speech to be delivered by the treasurer today, it is gathered that there will be a deficit of Tk 154 million in the budget as the authorities fail to get the desired amount from the government and there is an inadequate internal income.
Relating to the internal income it is argued that offering higher education for affluent students with equally nominal tuition and other fees is irrational.
It is also asserted that subsidised higher education should not be open for all as the university gets most of its money from direct taxes of all sections of people including the poor.
The treasurer will also call upon the apex body to consider increasing the tuition and other charges of the students to increase the university's internal income.
If a university student can expend Tk 300/Tk 400 as their mobile phone bill per month, then paying Tk 30/Tk 40 monthly as tuition fee requires re-consideration, the budget speech reads.  
There will also be proposals for introducing an education loan for the underprivileged students to support their schooling expenditure at the university.
"Like the developed country, education loan (financial aid) should be introduced in the country to support poor but meritorious students with required funding," the speech notes.
The document shows about 58.88 per cent of the amount has been allocated for salaries of teachers and other staff, 16.45 per cent for pension and 9.63 per cent for general expenses.
In FY 2014-2015, the total budget was Tk 3.74 billion with a deficit of Tk 0.18 billion. Of the amount, the UGC's portion was Tk 3.24 billion, while Tk 0.32 billion was collected from the university's internal income.
Presently, the university has 13 faculties, 74 departments, 10 institutes, 17 dormitories, three hostels and 38 research centres, with a total enrolment of around 33,112 students.
The university enrols more than 5,800 students at its undergraduate level every year. Besides conducting teaching courses under the four-year Bachelor and one-year Master's degree programmes, the university also trains up a large number of researchers in different major areas including business, sciences, arts and fine arts.
More than 842 Ph.D and 673 M. Phil researchers have obtained their degrees from this university.
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