Universities in the country could not achieve the desired place in the world rankings this year due to lack of proper planning and decision-making in research and innovation, said Bangladesh University Grants Commission Chairman (additional charge) Prof Dr Muhammad Alamgir.

He said this while inaugurating 22 research and innovation sub-projects of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) with the financial support of City Bank.

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The day-long workshop was held at Syed Nazrul Islam Conference Hall in BAKB on Saturday morning.

This situation of the universities of the world ranking country is largely a continuous result of the steps taken by them in the past years, said the UGC chairman.

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He urged the university authorities to create a suitable environment for research and innovation, recruit qualified teachers, increase the number of regular students in PhD programmes, arrange prestigious scholarships, increase industry-academia cooperation, and focus on citation.

The UGC chairman demanded priority to those who have obtained PhD degrees in the recruitment of teachers in the university and a separate pay scale for teachers.

Without an attractive pay structure, talented and young students with PhD degrees are not getting interest in the teaching profession, he said. For this, he believed, a separate pay scale is needed for university teachers.

Alamgir also discouraged young teachers from pursuing PhD degrees abroad. He said there is a huge scope for research on the socio-economic problems of the country. Therefore, it is not desirable to go abroad for research and stay there after the degree.

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Bangladesh Agricultural University Research System (BAURES) Director Professor Dr Mahfuza Begum presided over the programme while Vice-Chancellor of Bangladesh University (BAU) Prof Dr Emdadul Haque Chowdhury spoke as the chief patron.