MANGALORE: Students seeking admission to colleges offering general courses may have to pay hefty fees if universities in the State implement a decision of the Inter-University Board (IUB). The decision will also affect teachers of colleges, some of them say.

At its 43rd meeting on August 17, 2005, the board took some decisions on the implementation of recommendations of the M.R. Srinivasan Committee Report. Mangalore University has conveyed the decisions of the board to principals of colleges affiliated to it.

The circular issued by the university says, "Colleges which have been getting grants should gradually go out of the grant-in-aid system. They should be permitted to charge higher fees. Even in aided colleges, higher fees may be collected from students coming from expensive schools.''

"Colleges and universities should increase the strength of students in order to achieve financial viability. It will be possible only if the student-strength is 900 in each college and 3,000 in each university. Colleges should be encouraged to start add-on courses and self-financing courses in order to become financially sound,'' the circular says. Teachers associated with the Association of Mangalore University College Teachers (AMUCT) and the Federation of University and College Teachers' Associations in Karnataka (FUCTAK) told The Hindu that if the Government reduced grant-in-aid to colleges, it would affect the higher education sector. Poor students might not be able to pursue even courses such as B. Sc., B. Com., and BA as colleges could charge hefty fees.

The board had decided that even in aided colleges, higher fees could be collected from students coming from expensive schools. This would enable college managements to consider a majority of schools and pre-university colleges as "expensive'' and charge "higher fees'' during admission. This was a dangerous decision, they said.

A.M. Narahari, president of the federation, said the committee had never stated that the Government should cut grant-in-aid to colleges. There were 300 government-aided private colleges, 175 government and 500 private colleges in the State. Sixty per cent of students were in government aided-private colleges. Government colleges had 20 per cent students and the rest were in private colleges. Hence, though there were 500 private colleges, the percentage of students they had was only 20, he said.

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