UGC proposes amendment to HEAT project to address student housing and internet issues

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has proposed an amendment to the Higher Education Acceleration and Transformation (HEAT) project to ensure funding for providing uninterrupted high-speed broadband connections to university residential halls.

It also urged the provision of scholarship facilities to indigent meritorious students. As part of this proposal, Dhaka University has been considered as a pilot project.

UGC Chairman Prof SMA Faiz expressed the view that it is necessary to include a scholarship scheme in the project proposal to provide broadband internet service to students staying in residential halls and to relieve the financial pressure of indigent meritorious students who are staying in rented houses outside the campus due to the housing crisis.

He also stated that it is essential to amend the HEAT project by prioritising the needs of students and formulating a timely policy.

He raised these issues during a courtesy call on a 6-member World Bank delegation at the UGC on Thursday.

UGC member Prof Mohammad Tanzimuddin Khan mentioned that this project includes several activities that are closely related to the lives of students, which, if successfully implemented, will have a positive impact on them.

UGC member Prof Anwar Hossain pointed out that the lack of uninterrupted internet facilities in the halls is disrupting students' studies. Additionally, due to the lack of residential facilities, first-year students are living in subhuman conditions.

S Amer Ahmed, Lead Economist of the World Bank, said that this flagship project will play an important role in addressing the challenges of the demographic dividend, developing human resources, and improving the quality of higher education.

He said that initiatives would be taken to revise the HEAT project by considering the UGC's proposal on internet services and scholarships.

The UGC is implementing the HEAT project to improve and transform the quality of higher education and research in the country. Through this project, the cooperative relationship between Bangladeshi universities and higher education institutions in South Asian countries will be strengthened.

The cost of the five-year HEAT project, adopted by the Ministry of Education, has been estimated at Tk 41.65 billion. The Bangladesh government will bear 50.96 per cent of the total project cost, while the World Bank will bear the remaining 49.4 per cent.

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