The University Grants Commission (UGC) plans to support at least 3,000 university teachers in obtaining PhD degrees at home and abroad over the next five years.
Additionally, the UGC will allocate Tk1,200 crore in research grants under the Higher Education Acceleration and Transformation (HEAT) project.
UGC Chairman Mamun Ahmed announced the initiatives at the closing ceremony of the six-day Junior Faculty Professional Development Programme (Train the Trainers – ToT) at BRAC CDM in Savar on Wednesday evening.
The programme was organised under the project in cooperation with the British Council.
Mamun said UGC PhD fellowships had increased by 40 per cent this year, with plans to raise the number to 500 next year to address the shortage of PhD-qualified faculty members and skilled researchers.
Under the HEAT project, teachers from public and private universities will be eligible to apply for research grants. Proposals will be evaluated impartially based on quality, innovation and their potential to address practical national challenges.
The project also aims to train 5,000 teachers, from lecturers to professors, while offering leadership, administrative management and financial operations training to senior university officials, including vice-chancellors, pro-vice-chancellors, deans and treasurers.
The chairman stressed the importance of formal administrative and financial management training for university leaders to strengthen institutional governance and accountability.
To ensure the continuation of teacher training beyond the project’s tenure, the UGC plans to establish a permanent Higher Education Training Academy in Gazipur, offering three- to six-month residential courses for newly appointed teachers. An initiative is also under way to establish another training centre outside Dhaka.
The academies will facilitate collaboration among academics, university leaders, government policymakers and industry executives, aligning research with national development goals.
Mamun Ahmed said higher education must equip graduates to meet national and international labour market demands and encourage them to become job creators and entrepreneurs rather than merely job seekers. A Strategic Plan has been formulated to improve the quality, relevance and global competitiveness of higher education.
Chairing the ceremony, HEAT Project Director Asaduzzaman said the training would help drive strategic changes and prepare universities for future demands.
The training, held from 9 to 14 October, was attended by 22 teachers from public and private universities across the country.
Maria Rehman, deputy director of British Council Bangladesh, Mark Philip O’Hara, senior consultant at Advance HE, Selina Zaman, chief programme co-ordinator of the HEAT project, Md Abdus Salam, faculty professional development specialist, and Md Zillur Rahman, senior communication specialist, attended the closing ceremony, along with senior officials from the UGC, the HEAT project and the British Council.
