Gujarat University to waive off tuition fee for 6,000 students

The Gujarat University has decided to waive off tuition fee of nearly 6000 GU students. The GU administration was able to do this courtesy the revenue generated from the Gujarat University Convention and Exhibition Centre. In the past five years, the university has been able to earn nearly 40 crore in revenue and it is touted to increase in the coming years.

Speaking about the same, Himanshu Pandya, Vice-Chancellor, Gujarat University, said, "We were waiting for this, so we could give back to our students. We have nearly 6000 students on our campus. Through the revenue generated, we wish to waive off tuition fee, which amounts to nearly Rs 1.2 crore. Students will then have to pay only the facilitation fee and laboratory fee."

The tuition fee per student is nearly Rs 1,700 to 2,000. So, we will be able to waive off the entire amount. However, this facility will not be extended to GU-affiliated colleges as of now.

Pandya added, "Until now, the terms and conditions of the contract was to generate a revenue of Rs 8.5 crore every year for five years, which is how we amassed nearly Rs 40 lakh. As per the new contract, the firm will have to generate Rs 12.5 crore per year for five years. With this, in the coming years, we will be even more financially stable. We want to provide financial assistance to as many students as we can."

Hetvi Solanki, a third year student of Bcom, said, "Any kind of waiver is good according to me. But I just hope they do not cut down on facilities due to this."

In a major academic shift, the university is also mulling over a decision of allowing colleges to conduct examination on their own as well as assess papers, thereby reducing their role to just being the monitoring body for the overall process.

Facing issues with the present system, wherein the Gujarat University, for years, has been not only setting papers, but also conducting exams, assessing papers and declaring results, the delay in results was the biggest challenge. "We are mulling over a decision to allow colleges to conduct exams and assess papers, too. We will just be a monitoring body and will be setting the examination papers. We have been facing a lot of issues in bringing all the teachers together for paper assessment and many do not turn up for the same, which eventually delays the announcement of results. We will cut down on a lot of expenses with this change," Pandya had said.

REVENUE EARNED

• Until now, the terms and conditions of the contract was to generate a revenue of Rs 8.5 crore every year for five years, which is how we amassed nearly Rs 40 lakh.
   
• As per the new contract, the firm will have to generate Rs 12.5 crore per year for 5 years.  This will help GU become more financially stable as per the V-C.