A high-level committee headed by Anil Kakodkar, chairman of IIT-Bombay’s board of governors, has recommended a roughly five-fold fee raise to make the institutes financially independent.
Studying in Indian institutes of technology (IITs) may soon become a highly-expensive affair.
A high-level committee headed by Anil Kakodkar, chairman of IIT-Bombay’s board of governors, has recommended a roughly five-fold fee raise to make the institutes financially independent.
The committee was formed by human resource development (HRD) minister Kapil Sibal to suggest a road map for IITs’ autonomy and growth.
It is learnt to have come to a view that for greater autonomy, IITs should go the IIMs (Indian institutes of management) way. They should refuse government subsidy and become economically independent.
This can be achieved by charging higher fee at the undergraduate (BTech) level.
Those who cannot afford the higher fee should get government help in the form of low-interest loans and scholarships.
Kakodkar will make a presentation at an IIT council meeting on Friday in this regard. If the government decides to go by the committee’s recommendation, the fee for BTech courses in the nation’s 15 IITs could increase from the present Rs50,000 to Rs2.2-2.5 lakh.
IIMs, which have greater autonomy compared to IITs, charge between Rs3lakh and Rs6.5 lakh a year per postgraduate student.
According to the Kakodkar committee, IITs’ economic dependence is coming in the way of its autonomy since the government foots education expenses of IIT students by subsidising fee and meeting recurring expenses such as faculty salary.
Increasing fee can make IITs economically self-sufficient. The institutes will also be able to generate enough funds, just like IIMs, to pay faculty salaries and take up ventures, courses and posts without approaching the government.
The committee, however, does not favour raising fee at the postgraduate (MTech) and doctorate (PhD) levels as it feels this will discourage students from taking up higher studies and research in engineering and could lead to faculty shortage in future.
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