MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SMT. SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)
(a) & (b): The Government has undertaken several regulatory measures to keep the cost of higher education affordable. The fee in Centrally Funded Technical Institutions is approved by statutory bodies like Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Council for IITs and Council of National Institutes of Technology (NITs) for NITs. For other institu- tions like Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), the Board of Governors of individual institution determines the fee or the hike in the fee, if any, considering factors such as inflationary pressures, etc. The fee in government universities and colleges is nominal. Pursuant to the judgement of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in T.M.A Pai Foundation Vs the State of Karnataka, Fee Fixation Committees have been set up by State Governments, which are fixing fees for all professional and technical courses.
At school level, such regulatory mechanism exists at State level, in some States, through administ- rative guidelines and/or legislations. The Central Government has no formal regulatory mechanism for schools. Private schools affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) are regulated in such matters by CBSE guidelines. The Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) has recomme- nded prohibiting unfair practices in school education sector.
(c): The IIMs and Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) are also provi- ding fee concession and assistances to the stu- dents coming from weaker sections as an effort to ensure that the students from weaker sections are not deprived of education because of financial reasons. The Central Government has set up Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for providing credit gua- rantee on educational loans availed under the Indian Bank Association Model Educational Loan scheme. Educational loans under this scheme have softer terms, including interest subvention, for students whose parental income is upto Rs. 4.50 lakh per annum.
The SC/ST students in IITs are exempted from payment of tuition fees irrespective of their parental income. The students, whose parental income is below Rs.4.50 lakh per annum are entitled to free hostel seat, basic messing and pocket allowance. Under the Merit- cum-Means Scholarship, students (Other than SC/ST categories), upto 25% of intake strength, whose annual parental income is less than Rs.6.00 lakh, are also exempted from payment of tuition fee and are paid a stipend for ten months in an academic year.
Towards supporting economically weaker sections of society, the All India Council for Technical Educa- tion (AICTE) has a scheme of Tuition Fee Waiver (TFW) for sons & daughter of parents having annual income of less than Rs. 4.5 lakhs from all sources which is mandatory for all AICTE approved technical institutions offering Bachelor, Diploma and Post Diploma programmes. 5% of sanctioned intake per course is supernumerary in nature and are available for these admissions.
(d): The AICTE has reconstituted the Fee Fixation Committee under the Chairmanship of Retd. Justice Srikrishna. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued the UGC (Establishment and Maintenance of Standards in Private Universities) Regulations, 2003 which provides that the admission procedure and fixation of fees shall be in accordance with the norms/guidelines prescribed by the UGC and other concerned statutory bodies. The UGC has also issued the UGC (Institutions Deemed-to- be Universities) Regulations 2010 which provides that the level of the fees charged for the courses offered in Deemed-to-be universities shall have a reasonable relation to the cost of running the course. The UGC has further issued the UGC (Ins- titutions Deemed-to- be Universities) (Amendment) Regulations 2014. According to these amended regu- lations the Deemed-to-be universities have to man- datorily publish a Prospectus before commencement of admission process indicating the details of the fee structure, the number of seats approved for each course, the age limit prescribed for candi- dates etc. The regulations prohibit such Univer- sities from publishing any advertisement inducing students for taking admission claiming to be reco- gnized by appropriate authority where it is not so recognized.
Download PDF Files
