Students in Mumbai oppose engineering college’s move to hike fees by 250%
Mumbai city news: VJTI is a University of Mumbai- affiliated college which was granted autonomy in 2004
Students have opposed Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute’s (VJTI) decision to increase the fees for post-graduation courses by 150% to 250%.
The autonomous engineering institute’s board of governors recommended the fee hike, which has been approved. “All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) stopped funding our PG courses from 2008. All these years, we were hoping to receive some aid from the state or Centre, but to no avail. So we decided to increase the fees to keep these courses running,” said Dhiren Patel, director of the institute.
VJTI is a University of Mumbai- affiliated college which was granted autonomy in 2004. It gets financial aid from the state for UG courses. Members of Nationalist Student Congress (NCS), student wing of NCP, said the annual fees for MTech (aided section) may be increased from Rs23,665 to Rs83,734 — a hike of 253%. Those who have a sponsor, may have to pay Rs93,734 from the current annual fees of Rs38,565. Similarly, the fees for pursuing PhD may rise from Rs26,092 to Rs83,954 for non-sponsored students and from Rs41,092 to Rs1,08,954 for sponsored students.
“Students are being victimised for a few crores. It seems that the government doesn’t want them to pursue higher education,” said Amol Matele, president, NSC.