The high-powered inquiry committee formed to assess the status of private universities found 'inadequacies' in both the universities it visited yesterday at Dhanmondi in the city, sources said.

The committee members, led by University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman Prof Mohammad Asaduzzaman, visited the People's University of Bangladesh and the Darul Ihsan University.

"There are inadequacies in both the universities, and their sponsors seemed to be driven by business motive, rather than charity for education," a member of the committee told The Daily Star, requesting anonymity.

But the university authorities tried to explain why they could not fulfil the UGC criteria, he said.

"During the visit, we tried to assess infrastructure, classroom conditions, laboratory and library facilities, the number of teachers, their educational qualifications and the methods of teaching at the universities," the member added.

The UGC formed the nine-member committee following a directive from the education ministry to look into the status of private universities against a backdrop of widespread allegations of their falling standards of education, financial mismanagement, recruitment of teachers without required qualifications and various other irregularities.

The committee will gradually visit all the 51 private universities in the country, which have a total of some 45,000 students.

Currently, not any of the private universities fulfil all the criteria required for registration under the Private University Act. They lack requirements such as their own campus, faculty members, library and laboratory facilities.