"There is no scope for giving funds for research this way. There has to be competition and funds should be given on the basis of a proposal's merit."

— Prof Dil Afroza Begum Member, UGC

Bizarre as it may sound, Jahangirnagar University treats all teachers equally when it's about releasing funds for research. 

From a lecturer to a professor, the university hands the equal amount of money to all teachers, irrespective of their research proposals and faculties.

Such a fund disbursement has long been drawing criticism from JU teachers who termed it lop-sided. They pointed out that research fields and topics differ from department to department. It is also frustrating because a teacher with a solid research background receives the same fund as a junior researcher.

Talking to The Daily Star, several teachers said the university tasked a high-powered committee, led by the vice-chancellor, to disburse the funds, but the body hardly evaluates any research proposal before releasing the money.

There is no example of any research proposal getting rejected in recent times, they said.

"It's a sort of discrimination when a senior researcher gets the same fund as a junior teacher for a completely different research project," said a teacher of journalism and media studies department, preferring not to be named.

"It may even happen that a lecturer has a very good research proposal and is capable of doing better work… so, the fund should be fixed on the basis of research proposal and topic," said the teacher.

Prof Sheikh Tawhidul Islam, director of JU Institute of Remote Sensing and GIS, told this correspondent, "You can never disburse an average amount of fund among all teachers. It's totally contradictory to the values of research work as all research fields are not equal.

"It is happening because we don't understand the importance of research. Such a practice can in no way fulfil the purpose of research which is to create new knowledge or enhance someone's expertise on a subject through development of scientific theories, concepts and ideas and spreading the knowledge among students," he said.

As her attention was drawn to the JU's fund release, University Grants Commission (UGC) member Prof Dil Afroza Begum said, "There is no scope for giving funds for research this way. There has to be competition and funds should be given on the basis of a proposal's merit."

She, however, said the UGC was not aware about the fund disbursement system in JU. "We will ask the VC about the issue and take necessary steps accordingly, if needed."

Meanwhile, several teachers said the fund handed to teachers was insufficient in many cases. They demanded a hike in the fund allocation for research.

"The university should realise where it should put the money," said a teacher.

FUND DISBURSEMENT

Prof Dr AA Mamun of physics department is one of the leading scientists in the country with 417 publications run by prominent research journals across the globe, and 15,000 citations.

He got Tk 75,785 for research work in the fiscal 2020-21.

Each of the 17 other teachers of the department, including four lecturers, received the equal amount after applying for the fund that year, show university documents.

Interestingly, the JU authorities released the same fund for teachers of science and arts faculties, although their fields of research are completely different.

Last year, 380 teachers got the fund -- totalling Tk 2.87 crore -- from the university budget.

In the current fiscal year, the number of teachers nominated for the funds is 381. This time, each recipient will get Tk 1.1 lakh as the university syndicate set aside around Tk 4 crore for this purpose in June.

The university received an annual budget of Tk 266.24 crore this year, show documents. Most of the money comes from the UGC while the rest from JU's own fund.

The situation was slightly different in the fiscal 2019-20. The fund varied from faculty to faculty.

For example, a teacher from the social science faculty got Tk 89,987 while those in the biological faculty were handed Tk 81,928 each.

Tk 86,696 was handed to a teacher from the business faculty.

The year before, the fund was equal for all teachers, irrespective of their faculties and positions.

There are six faculties and four institutes in the university, established in 1970.

According to several teachers, the authorities hardly keep track of whether the research papers are published in the international peer reviewed journals and that most papers end up in the journals of the respective department or journal.

An associate professor, preferring anonymity, said, "Whenever the university announces the budget every year, all eyes are fixed on the research fund allocation. The teachers expect a rise in the amount every year."

'COMMITTEE NAME ONLY'

Headed by the vice chancellor, a committee named 'Research Fund Allotment Committee' is responsible for the entire process -- starting from evaluating the research proposals to selecting the candidates and disbursing the money.

All faculty deans are the members of the committee.

The process starts with the university authorities posting a notice, asking teachers to submit research proposals, said Prof Mozammel Haque, dean of arts and humanities faculty and one of the members of the committee.

After getting the notice, teachers prepare their proposals and submit them to the registrar office via their respective chairmen and relevant faculty's deans.

Once approved, respective faculties organise seminars where teachers place their papers along with presentations. Then they submit their papers to the university and the authorities distribute the money.

A teacher of the social sciences faculty said, "It's a committee in name only. Because whoever submits a proposal, the committee accepts it."

Asked about the process, Prof Mozammel said, "Now we don't do any evaluation after getting the proposals. A seminar is held at every faculty prior to the submission."

He could not provide any documentation on rejection of any project proposal.

Prof Mozammel said the university authorities used to distribute the research funds under three categories -- A, B, and C -- several years ago.

But then came the question of "fairness" in the process as some teachers with low-quality research proposals would get them granted under 'A' category by using political influence, making the researchers with quality work feel humiliated, he said.

"But as the university authorities started distributing equal funds, the teachers are happy now," he claimed.

Experts think this should not be the practice.

"This process is unfair. It does not ensure fairness," said Prof Mohammad Tanzimuddin Khan of Dhaka University's International Relations department.

"Because this fund is intended to inspire researchers, it should be distributed in accordance with their research abilities," he said, referring to the existing practice in JU as the "failure of the university's administrative leadership" to ensure the coordination of the disbursement system.

Dhaka University authorities usually disburse research funds among teachers on the basis of research proposals and evaluation by a committee. The funds are given under two categories: professors and associate professors in the first category while the second one for the assistant professors and lecturers, said Prof Tanzimuddin.

A top official of Jahangirnagar University, on condition of anonymity, said it would be difficult for the JU top authorities to change the allocation system as doing so would make many teachers unhappy.

"The top officials like deans, senate and syndicate members are elected from the votes of the teachers. Making any harsh decision will put an impact on the vote bank.

"Therefore, as long as the election system exists, the top officials will not modify this system. Ultimately, no one wants to become unpopular," the official said.

Asked, JU VC Prof Farzana Islam said, "We will look into the matter soon."

"There should be healthy competition among teachers in terms of research," she said without going into the details.