Medical, engg and dental course fees remain unchanged

Fee structure for undergraduate engineering, medical and dental courses for the academic year 2014-15 would remain almost the same as 2013-14. 

Besides, seat-sharing ratio between the State government and private colleges would remain unchanged as private college managements on Friday agreed to sign a consensual agreement with the State government. The existing agreement would continue. This was confirmed to Deccan Herald by Medical Education Minister Dr Sharan Prakash Patil.

It implied that the Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Determination of Fee) Act, 2006, would be kept in abeyance for the academic year 2014-15.

Private college managements met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah here on Friday, and it was decided to go ahead with the existing agreement. The seat-sharing ratio between the State government and private institutes would be 40:60 for medical, 35:65 for dental and 45:55 for engineering courses in non-minority institutions. For minority institutions, it would be 25:75 for medical, 25: 75 for dental and 40:60 for engineering. 

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Karnataka Unaided Private Engineering Colleges Association (KUPECA) president D Hemachandra Sagar said they decided to sign the agreement considering “larger interest of students.” Amendments to the 2006 act would be brought into force from the next academic year, as promised by the chief minister last December. 

“Everything has to be reworked. We do have problems as far as the fee structure is concerned. However, if it was to be changed, it had to be done by October last. It is too late now,” Sagar said.

KUPECA secretary Panduranga Setty said they would call a meeting of association members on Tuesday to take a final call. “We will have to convince our members about this decision to sign the consensual agreement. I do not think there will be scope for disagreement. But, we cannot sign the agreement before discussing with the members,” Setty said. 

In 2013-14, there were 835 medical and 17,698 engineering seats under COMEDK. The government finally had 2,550 medical and 61,240 engineering seats.