Edu Ministry gets 107 applications for new pvt varsities

Staff Reporter :
Education Ministry has received about 107 applications for opening of the new private universities in different parts of the country amid teachers’ crisis.
But, the ministry has started working on the proposals of 15 new universities and these are in the pipeline for getting the final approval from the Prime Minister.
According to University Grants Commission (UGC), there are 107 private universities at present where nearly five lakh students are studying for undergraduate and graduate courses.
Of these tertiary level educational institutions, 62 universities are located in different parts of Dhaka. Among them, 97 universities are continuing their academic activities while 10 universities
 still could not start their activities even after approval.
UGC, the apex regulatory body of the universities, sources said that they have acute crisis of manpower to look after the activities of all these universities properly.
They said, if more universities are set up, their workload will increase and it would be very difficult for them to properly monitor the activities of the universities.
Before getting the final approval for setting up a university, the UGC visit the place of the proposed university and submit its report to the Education Ministry for further action.
UGC has so far completed their visit to 30 proposed universities and submitted their reports.
It said, among the applications, Jatiya Party leader Rowshan Ershad submitted an application for Rowshan Ershad University in Mymensingh, Awami League Member of Parliament ASM Firoz applied for South Region University in Patuakhali, wife of Awami League leader Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif applied for Lalon University in Kushtia.
Jatiya Party leader HM Golam Reza applied for Singapore University of Bangladesh, Awami League leader Shamsul Alam Bhuiyan applied for Apollo University of Science and Technology in Chandpur.
Ministry sources said, they would scrutinize the report and sent the final report to the Prime Minister for final approval.