BUFT was formed with money provided by garment industry owners, and by rules, it was supposed to be run by the general members of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association; recent exposures, however, have brought out that an influential clique within the BGMEA has actually taken control of the university.

BUFT was established in 1999 in Uttara with initial capital provided by BGMEA and was supposed to be run under the management of the BGMEA Board of Directors. It has, however, been reported that the university is now run by a few members within BGMEA and that general members are kept in the dark about the ownership of BGMEA.

The university's assets are valued at a significant amount, ranging in several hundred crores of taka, thereby turning the issue of ownership into something more financial. Since 2011, BUFT has been ruled by a 21-member Board of Trustees vested with powers relating to administrative and financial decision-making. This was intended to secure independence for the university, but the independence and accountability of the board have since been in question.

Critics say that in reality, the decisions taken are actually dictated by a handful of people having vested interests, which, according to them, should not have been the case as per the founding principles or ideology governing the institution. Reports say the board composition and its operations are far from the original guidelines regarding influential members running the board.

Established norms, the violation of which has always brought the Board of Trustees into question as far as legitimacy is concerned. A peep into the history of governance and one comes across the fact that the present board was constituted through a highly controversial appointment process in 2011 without even taking BGMEA into confidence. All this has given a dent to a huge amount of transparency, as the financial operations of BUFT are fully not known either to BGMEA or to UGC.

Following increasing such demands over increased accountability, UGC expressed its commitment to monitoring whether BUFT is practicing its governance. "Though BUFT is not owned by BGMEA, the commission would see that the university practices regulations and keeps its accountability transparent," a UGC official said.

This ongoing scrutiny does indicate wider concerns with regard to the governance and financial management of BUFT and the need for reforms that would return the institution to its original mission and ensure a high standard of transparency.