B-SCHOOL ESSENTIALS
FEE TROUBLE
OUR SUGGESTIONS
SEAA would recommend that the individual education institutions write to their respective state governments with facts and figures justifying their present fee structure and opposing the justice Srikrishna panel recommendations
Also we request the various associations connected to the business schools and engineering colleges to take a stand on the fee panel collectively and send their representatives to Delhi for a collective demonstration and submission of memorandum to the government
And as a last resort, the institutions together should file a writ petition in the appropriate courts to stop the panel recommendations from being implemented.
FEE CAP RECOMMENDATION DEATH KNELL FOR QUALITY EDUCATION
An Indian Express News report citing a December 11 meeting of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has stated that the one man Srikrishna committee report on fee fixation for the higher education institutions has been accepted. The step if implemented would literally wipe out good quality institutions of higher learning which today is barely able to provide quality education at the fee which is being charged at present.
The AICTE accepted, the newspaper says has accepted all the recommendations of the Justice Srikrishna committee report at its council meeting on December 11 and decided to draft a regulation on the fee to be charged by private institutes.
However, the panel recommendations would also be presented to the state governments for their comments before being accepted, says the news report. "The committee’s report would be sent to the state governments for their comments, and to apprise them of the additional financial burden which they will have to bear because of increased scholarships", the report says quoting sources. The HRD Ministry too has been requested to consult the Finance Ministry on the funds required for scholarships once the recommendations are implemented. The AICTE, however, hasn’t decided on a timeline to introduce the fee regulation. The Justice Srikrishna committee was set up by the AICTE to honour the Supreme Court’s direction in the TMA Pai Foundation case. The apex court had ruled that to prevent commercialization of technical education, the fee charged by private institutes should be decided by the state governments until a national-level fee fixation committee gives its recommendations.
Once the report is implemented, all private institutes which take more than the prescribed fee will have to fall in line. The report makes an exception for institutes of excellence by allowing autonomous and accredited institutes to charge 10 per cent and 20 per cent additional tuition fee respectively. However, it is not clear what will happen to reputed institutes which charge more, despite the exception made for excellence.
The Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI) in Jamshedpur, for instance, takes Rs 9 lakh per annum for its post-graduate diploma in management, which is equivalent to a two-year MBA. The TA Pai Management Institute in Manipal or TAPMI charges Rs 7 lakh for the same.