A year after the regulatory body put a ceiling on the maximum fee technical institutes can charge students, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has now prescribed a minimum fee for the colleges governed by it.
A government-appointed committee had recommended putting a cap on the tuition fee last year, following which AICTE directed all the states to implement the recommendation at all private institutes for technical courses, including engineering and MBA.
But no word on minimum fee meant several states lowered the fee for various courses.
The AICTE has written to the Justice Srikrishna committee that was set up to fix a fee cap for technical institutes, asking them to prescribe the minimum fee as well. Sources in the HRD ministry said the committee has accepted the suggestion in-principal. There are over 7,000 institutes under AICTE.
“A number of institutes have written to us that in some states they have been asked to lower the fee to Rs30,000 per semester which is not feasible. They said they are adhering to the maximum fee cap but a minimum limit should also be set. We have written to the committee and they have agreed to it. It will be worked out soon,” said a senior AICTE official.
The AICTE last year made it mandatory to implement proposals of the National Fee Committee, a 10-member panel headed by former Supreme Court Judge BN Srikrishna, which was formed in 2014 to prescribe fee guidelines for technical institutions.
{{/usCountry}}The AICTE last year made it mandatory to implement proposals of the National Fee Committee, a 10-member panel headed by former Supreme Court Judge BN Srikrishna, which was formed in 2014 to prescribe fee guidelines for technical institutions.
{{/usCountry}}The AICTE had said that institutions failing to comply with the recommendations will face legal proceedings and cancellation of their AICTE approval.
The report prescribed caps on tuition fees and related funds charged by institutes for engineering, management, pharma and technical courses. But autonomous and accredited institutions will be allowed to charge an additional 10% and 20% tuition fees respectively. IITs will not be affected by the move as they do not require the AICTE’s approval.
For instance, the committee had fixed the maximum (tuition and development) fee for a two-year MBA course at Rs1.57 lakh to Rs 1.71 lakh per annum, depending on the location of the institute. The annual fee for a four-year engineering degree (BE or B Tech) was fixed at Rs 1.44 lakh to 1.58 lakh. Similarly, maximum fee for technical courses like B Arch, B Pharma, MCA and M Tech were are fixed by them.