The Hindu : Revised affiliation fee, a stumbling block

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 06, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Madurai

Revised affiliation fee, a stumbling block

By Shastry V Mallady

MADURAI, FEB.5. The colleges affiliated to the Madurai Kamaraj University are of the view that the revised affiliation fee for launching new courses stands in the way of starting new courses to suit emerging trends.

It is learnt that the affiliated colleges will again represent to the varsity to bring down the fees for affiliation as also consideration and inspection fees and other penalty charges.

The colleges have called for steps to start new courses in the ensuing academic year.

Speaking to The Hindu today, the general secretary of the MKU Principals' Association and Yadava College Principal, G. Thiruvasagam, said there was a genuine demand from the colleges as things had been going bad for them financially.

"Several courses have become unviable. The student strength is not up to expectations. There are cases of single digit admission for courses. And students are opting for distance education in the Madurai Kamaraj University," he said.

He pointed out that a college had to pay Rs.one lakh as temporary affiliation fees for introducing a new course. For the postgraduate course, the payment was Rs. two lakhs. And, if the college had to get permanent affiliation, the fees for the undergraduate course was Rs. two lakhs and Rs. four lakhs for the postgraduate course.

Stating that the fee was enormous, the colleges earlier represented to the university that the poor student strength and coming down of grants were impeding payment of fees charged by the varsity.

According to the colleges, affiliation fees are higher than the Bharathiar and Bharathidasan universities.

This apart, they pointed out that the university collected a consideration fees of Rs.10000 per application from a college and Rs.5000 for each course for the inspection carried out by the varsity before giving affiliation.

Apart from paying a honorarium of Rs.500 per day to the inspecting team, the colleges would have to pay Rs.10000 as penalty for each month's delay in submitting applications for affiliation.

According to Dr. Thiruvasagam, normally the colleges were expected to submit their applications by October and the penalty charged after that.

Asking for a consideration of their requests, the colleges have also demanded more support from the university to all colleges, "as common facilities do not exist in all the colleges."

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