KOZHIKODE: Close on the heels of the fee hikes by some of the Indian Institute of Managements IIMs, the Kozhikode branch (IIM-K) has also increased its fee by 20 per cent for the first year and 22 per cent for the second year of its Post Graduate Programme (PGP) in Management from the academic year beginning June 2006.

IIM-K sources said the decision was taken at a meeting of the Board of Governors presided over by A.C. Muthiah, chairman, IIM-K, last month during the convocation ceremony.

Scholarships

Sources said the annual fee for the first year of its PGP course was increased from Rs. 1.25 lakh to Rs. 1.50 lakh. The second year fee was increased from Rs. 1.35 lakh to Rs. 1.65 lakh. The Institute would continue to offer need-based scholarships to deserving students.

The IIM-K had already increased its seats from 120 to 180 in June 2005. It did not plan to increase its intake in the academic year beginning June 2006, sources said.

`Autonomy crucial'

PTI reports from Ahmedabad:

Voicing concern over the ``interference'' of the Government in the affairs of IIMs and IITs, the Director of IIM-Ahmedabad, Bakul Dholakia said ``autonomy and freedom'' were crucial for their smooth functioning.At a seminar at the IIM-A, Dr. Dholakia said these institutions were engaged more in ``managing governments'' instead of focussing their resources on education.

``It is unfortunate. Managing governments should be the least important,'' he said.

The IITs and the IIMs were created during the ``licence raj'' of the 1960s and '70s and corporate excellence was then judged by how business groups managed governments.

He said the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signed between the institutions remained the same since the last 40 years.

About the `interference' of the government, former director of IIT-Madras, P.V. Indiresan said the ``IITs and IIMs should not be treated as bonded labour by the government.''

"The poor will suffer"

PTI reports from Indore:

Strongly opposing the hike in the fees, former Union Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi termed it a move to ``commercialise'' education against the interest of poor students.

``It is wrong to commercialise higher education in the country. The move would encourage loan-taking culture among students instead of making them self-dependent,'' he told reporters here.

``Even in countries like the U.S., there is a provision of providing education at a low cost by the educational institutions and they spend one-third of their per capita income on education.

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