The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : `Increase engineering fee to 30,000'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 04, 2006

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

`Increase engineering fee to 30,000'

Staff Reporter

Want it increased to at least Rs. 30,000 per year Both engineering college managements and student unions have opposed the Rs. 4,000 hike in fee announced by the Government, though for different reasons

HYDERABAD : Unhappy with the Rs. 4,000 enhancement announced by the Government on Sunday, engineering college managements are planning to appeal to the Government to increase the fee to at least Rs. 30,000 per year if academic standards are to be maintained.

The Andhra Pradesh Self-Financing Rural Engineering Colleges Managements' Association is of the view that the hike will not serve any purpose, as with such low fee they would not be able to provide quality education expected by the students.

Spending woes

"The AICTE itself says that Rs.30,000 is the minimum a college has to spend on each student and how can we run courses with Rs.26,000?" asks Rajeshwar Reddy, representative of the association. The managements are now planning to meet and represent the case to the Government again.

The managements argue that the fee was hiked four years back and growing expenditure had only weakened the financial position of the colleges. Without a realistic enhancement, several colleges would have to close down. Another argument is that only three courses -- Computer Science, Electronics & Communication and Information Technology -- were in demand with no takers for some other courses, but colleges have to maintain standards in all the departments. Meanwhile, student unions have demanded immediate withdrawal of the enhancement stating the parents cannot afford it.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh