Benazir earns PhD degree from DU without enrollment qualifications

Former inspector general of police (IGP) Benazir Ahmed obtained a doctorate degree from Dhaka University in 2019. After obtaining the degree, he started using ‘Dr.’ before his name. However, Benazir did not have the qualifications to get enrolled in the PhD programme. The requirements were relaxed for his admission, a practice dubbed as irregularity by many teachers.

Benazir obtained the degree from Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) of the faculty of business studies. The requirement for admission in this programme is bachelor’s degree. A candidate must have at least 50 per cent marks in every public examination attended to get admitted in this programme, which Benazir did not have.

Business faculty’s dean at the time Shibli Rubayat Ul Islam recommended relaxing the basic requirements in the case of Benazir. Shibli was also the coordinator of Benazir’s doctorate programme. Shibli later became chairman of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) in May 2020, and still holds the position. He was a director of Community Bank Bangladesh, an initiative of Bangladesh police.

Benazir was the director general of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) at the time of his admission and obtaining the degree. Benazir’s post was taken into consideration behind relaxation of the admission requirement.

The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) started investigating the wealth of Benazir in May. The anti-graft body has already found proof of a huge amount of illegally acquired land, business and share business possessed by Benazir. His assets were confiscated at the order of the court.

Amid the debate over Benazir’s assets, he left the country with family members on 4 June.

Asked about the matter, Dhaka University’s vice chancellor professor ASM Maksud Kamal told Prothom Alo that he is not aware of it as he was not the VC when all these happened.

The VC further said the basic requirements for enrollment to PhD programmes including minimum numbers and having honors degree cannot be relaxed.

DU’s Institute of Business Studies (IBA) had Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) programmes beforehand while the faculty of business studies got approval to launch the programme in September, 2013.

Professor Shibli Rubaiyat-ul-Islam was president of the sub- committee formed to launch the DBA programme at the business studies faculty.

Benazir’s application for the DBA degree was approved in a meeting of FBS on 24 June in 2014. He was enrolled in the programme in 2014-15 academic sessions under banking and insurance department as a student of the first batch. A press release sent by Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) after Benazir obtained the degree also mentioned him as the student of the first batch.

Benazir’s research topic was, “Contribution of Bangladesh UN Peace Keeping Force to Our National Economy”.

According to the DBA application, Benazir Ahmed passed SSC equivalent exams from SM Model High School in Gopalganj in 1978 with second division, and cleared HSC equivalent exams from Jagannath College in 1980 with the same division.

According to his application, Benazir obtained a BA (Pass) degree in 1982. The university teachers said this degree (BA Pass) used to be conferred to the students of the affiliated colleges while the regular students would get honours degrees. No document mentioned which college he studied in. However, he obtained a master's degree from Dhaka University’s English department in 1984.

As per his BA (pass) certificate, Benazir got 517 marks out of 1,100, less than 50 per cent. But he mentioned in the application that he had achieved 301 marks out of 500 in degree or equivalent exams. Passing year in his degree (pass) certificate was 1982 but he mentioned the passing year of 1983 in the application form DBA. But he did not submit any supporting documents.

According to Benazir’s certificate from DU’s English department, he passed master’s degree in second division getting 229 marks out of 500, less than 50 per cent. However, he showed the total marks as 400 instead of 500 in his application for DBA.

Although Benazir did not have required marks, Shibli  Rubayat   Islam ‘strongly recommended’ to enrol him at the programme.

According to dean’s committee meeting on 14 May in 2015, Shibli in his recommendation letter mentioned that as Benazir is the former commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) and DG of RAB, giving him permission to getting enrolled, even if in special consideration, will be beneficial for the country.

Speaking to Prothom Alo on 7 June, professor Shiblee Rubaiyat-ul-Islam said, those who studied at the university 40 years ago used to cut low scores in the exams. They are holding top posts now. Same goes for Benazir. His low score was discussed in the academic council. The council gave him the chance for admission. There was no irregularity in this.

Several DU teachers told Prothom Alo, there are certain sets of rules regarding the jurisdiction of the policymaking forums including the academic council. As per the rules, no one can get enrolled in the doctorate programme without having the honours degree. Besides, the candidate must have at least 50 per cent marks in all the exams. Using the forums to relax these conditions for any influential person is unethical.

The recommendation to allow Benazir Ahmed to register in the DBA programmes came up in the meeting of the Board of Advanced Studies presided over by the then DU vice-chancellor ASM Arefin Siddique on 8 September 2014.

The recommendation said the permission should be given in line with the decisions of the Dean’s Committee meeting held on 4 August, 2013.

According to the decisions of that Dean’s Committee meeting the existing policy regarding the0 candidates’ educational qualification and other related issues will be strictly followed in terms of admission in the DBA programme. Only the condition of having two publications could be relaxed. Which means, there was no scope to compromise the conditions regarding having honours degree and marks.

According to a source in the DU administration, it takes around two months on average to get the registration number after getting the approval for the doctorate degree from the Academic Council. However, it took nine months in the case of Benazir. The people concerned didn’t want to approve the appeal initially. The Education-1 branch of the administrative building was given the charge to approve the appeals. However, as the officials of that branch objected, the approval for Benazir’s appeal was given from the Education-3 branch.

The deputy-registrar (Education-3) informed the Faculty of Business Studies about the approval through a letter.

The letter read, “RAB director general Benazir Ahmed has been given the permission to enrol in the DBA programme under the Faculty of Business Studies under special consideration relaxing the admission requirements.”

Sources in the DU administration say the education ministry has recently raised questions regarding the DBA programme of the university. The ministry wants to know whether the DBA degree could be regarded as a doctorate degree.

DU vice-chancellor professor ASM Maksud Kamal admitted to that saying, “The issue is on the agenda of the next Dean’s committee meeting. We will reconsider the DBA degree to ensure the quality of the doctorate degree from Dhaka University.”

DU sources say former Jagannath University vice-chancellor professor Mizanur Rahman was the convener of the ‘defence board’. He is now a teacher at the marketing department of the Faculty of Business Studies of the DU and former presidium member of Jubo League.

Speaking regarding Benazir’s thesis and DBA programme, professor Mizanur Rahman told Prothom Alo, “The DBA programme was launched for the professionals. This programme is not like the other doctorate programmes. In terms of standard, it’s a little higher than the master’s degree. Adding the term ‘doctor’ before names after completing this programme is not right from an ethical point of view.

However, Benazir Ahmed started using doctor before his name after completing the DBA. He was mentioned as ‘Dr Benazir Ahmed’ in all the circulars of the RAB and police. A graphic card was uploaded from the verified Facebook page of Benjir Ahmed on 13 April. He was mentioned as ‘Dr Benazir Ahmed’ in that Facebook too.

Prothom Alo sent Benazir Ahmed’s thesis paper to two senior teachers of Dhaka University. They checked the thesis paper and said on condition of anonymity that the thesis was average.  The university shouldn’t give the doctorate degree for such an average thesis.

The University of Dhaka is one of the top educational institutions of the country. A doctorate degree from this century-old institution used to be quite a prestigious achievement. However, opening of low standard doctorate programmes and giving doctorate degrees to influential persons through this have questioned the dignity of the university.

Asked about this, former DU vice-chancellor SMA Faiz told Prothom Alo, “It was not prudent to relax the conditions for the doctorate programmes for any influential person. There should not be any scope at all to relax the conditions. The authorities have the option to review the DBA programme in the upcoming Dean’s Committee meeting.”