IIT may increrase tution fee by 80% for ug courses

NEW DELHI: The Standing Committee of the IIT Council, the supreme decision-making body of IITs, at its meeting on Monday, recommended an 80% hike, or Rs 40,000, in annual tuition fees for the IIT undergraduate programme. The annual fees would now rise to Rs 90,000 once the IIT Council accepts the recommendation.


Official sources said the IIT Council, headed by the human resource development minister, will take up the matter when it meets on January 7.
The Standing Committee is an executive sub-group of the IIT Council, comprising the directors of all IITs, and it advises the ministry and the Council on matters of common interest to all the institutions in the system.

Sources said that while it has recommended an 80% increase in fees, the Standing Committee decided that students from the weaker sections - scheduled castes and tribes and OBCs - would not be required to pay the higher fee.

The recommendation comes even as an empowered task force is considering ways to implement the Kakodkar Committee's suggestion of a four to five-fold increase in tuition fees, from Rs 50,000 to Rs 2-2.5 lakh per year.

A move that was necessary, according to the 12-member committee headed by IIT Bombay chairman and former Atomic Energy Commission chief Anil Kakodkar, for IITs to achieve financial autonomy.

Sources close to the developments described Monday's decision, which was taken even as empowered committee was deliberating option, as an "interim measure".

Experts suggest that the decision by the Standing Committee is an attempt to counter the possibility of implementing the higher hike suggested by the Kakodkar committee.

In January last year, Kapil Sibal, who as the human resource development minister was also the chairman of the IIT Council, had expressed misgivings about the four to five-fold fee hike suggested by the Kakodkar Committee.

In its final submission in May last year, the Committee had reiterated the need for a substantial hike. Sibal then agreed to larger discussion within the Council.

In the meantime, the Council gave an in-principle approval to implement the recommendation from 2013, with the then HRD minister stating that the extra burden would be "paid back" by students once they are employed.

The Kakodkar Committee had argued that Rs 2 to Rs 2.5 lakh per year represented the operational cost, or 30%, of total current cost of an IIT education. It had suggested a hassle-free bank loan scheme, one drawn up especially for IIT students, to ensure that fees don't become a barrier to entry.

It also suggested that the government should continue with current practice of providing full cover for fees and living expenses for under graduate from weaker sections. All students, whose parents earn less than Rs 4.5 lakh per year, would be eligible for scholarships covering 100% fees, and a monthly stipend.

SourceThe Times Of India