400 Percent Hike in IIT Fees

Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) Council has decided to hike the IIT fees by 400 percent. It will be implemented from 2013 onwards and it is for students who are not from economically and socially backward classes. But students have to pay the extra fees once they get a job. For Bachelors of Technology (B.Tech) course, students pay Rs. 50,000 annually and IIT Council has presented an agreement to increase the fees to Rs2 lakh per annum from 2013.

This increased fee will not be charged during the academic year. As per the ‘payback' scheme it will only be taken from students when they will be employed except as a faculty or in research, and the extra amount will have to be paid back in installments, said by HRD Minister Kapil Sibal.

It will affect 25% admissions in IITs and it will not affect the students from reserved categories. Government has also decided to pay the extra fees for students whose parents' yearly income is less than Rs4.5 lakh.

For the rest of the students, it will be responsibility of the employer to payback the left over fees and every student will be accessed on the basis of a DMAT system. The panel has also decided to make some recommendations on providing administrative and financial autonomy to the IITs. The committee has proposed to hike the fees but the council has rejected and decided to work upon the payback system.

Final decision will be notified to students only after the approval of the finance ministry; as this decision will have some financial implications from the finance ministry. The council has also agreed upon setting up a task force to check out the issues of suicides in the IITs and to take some preventive measures for it. Proposal of extension of campus in the NCR has also been approved by the council.

Source: Richha Bhatnagar (Shiksha Team)