The University Grants Commission (UGC) is asking for a budget of Tk12262.78 crore for the commission and 53 public universities in the country for the fiscal year 2023-24.

In the budget, Tk12185.33 crore has been allocated for public universities and Tk 77.45 crore for UGC. The main budget of the public universities has a revenue budget of Tk 6109.10 crore and a development budget of Tk 676.23 crore in favor of 31 projects at the universities.

The budget was approved in the 165th full commission meeting chaired by UGC Chairman, Professor Dr Kazi Shahidullah on Sunday (May 21).

UGC Secretary Dr. Ferdous Zaman presented the working papers of the meeting. The revised budget for the FY2022-23 and the main budget for the FY 2023-24 were presented in detail by Md. Abu Taher, a member in charge of the Finance and Accounts Department of UGC.

In the current fiscal year 2022-23, Tk 9265.17 crore has been allocated in the revised budget of 53 public universities. In this case, the allocation for public universities in the financial year 2023-24 has increased by Tk 2920 crores.

In FY 2023-24, Dhaka University (DU) received the highest revenue budget of Tk 853.80 crore and the DU also received the highest budget allocation of Tk 15 crore in the research sector.

Around Tk174 crores have been allocated in the main budget for the FY 2023-24 for the research of UGC and public universities in higher education.

Compared to the current financial year, the allocation for this sector has been increased by Tk 24 crore in the budget. In the revised budget of the last FY 2022-23, an allocation of Tk 150 crore was considered for the research sector.

About 55 guidelines and an austerity direction in allocation and expenditure of the revised FY 2022-23 and original budget (operations) for FY 2023-24 have been issued for the universities.