'Fees in govt colleges too high'

ABVP National President Milind Manate, speaking at the Parishat's national conference on Sunday, questioned the practice of charging high fees even by government institutions.
 "The fees in government colleges have also increased. I don't understand why states have to charge Rs 40,000 per year for a professional course,” he said.

Manate praised Gujarat's policy, where the government colleges charge only Rs 2,000 as fees.

"If Gujarat can do it, why can't other states?,” he asked. He also criticised the Indian Institutes of Technology for charging fees as high as Rs 40,000 per year.

He said that many students had to forego their seats because of this. Even if they manage to pay the fees for one year, they are forced to discontinue studies, as they can’t pay the fees for subsequent years.

On the impending entry of foreign universities into the country, Manate said that it would lead to commercialisation.

"None of the top-rated universities are interested in coming to India. It is only the second or third level institutions which want to enter the country,” he said.

In transformation
Bangalore University Vice-Chancellor Dr N Prabhudev said higher education was in a state of transformation. Universities in third world countries are going through a lot of changes, he said.

"However, no Indian university ranks among the top universities of the world. This deficiency needs to be addressed immediately," he said.

Prabhudev pointed out that only 32 percent of the universities were graded 'A', while 52 percent of the universities were graded 'B'. The situation among colleges was worse: only nine percent of the colleges were graded 'A', 68 percent were graded 'B' and 23 percent were graded 'C', he added.