Dhaka: The private universities in Bangladesh are not allowed to offer PhD degrees, said the Ministry of Education.

The ministry on Wednesday issued a press release signed by senior assistant secretary Fatema Jahan, which said the doctorate degrees awarded by the private universities to the students till now are unrecognised.

The ministry said the ministry of education or Bangladesh University Grants Commission (UGC) did not hand over any authority to the private universities to offer PhD degrees. Moreover, the ministry did not permit any foreign university to open their branch in Bangladesh or to run any academic programme in Bangladesh with the aid of local private universities. 

The ministry in the statement also said no foreign university received the authorisation to run PhD programmes in Bangladesh. Degrees received from such universities are illegitimate.

Seventy-seven private universities are running their programmes across the country with the approval of ministry of education and UGC.