VTU VC justifies hike in exam fee

VTU vice-chancellor Karisiddappa on Thursday justified the hike in the examination fee. The university has hiked the examination fee from Rs 540 to Rs 1,300, triggering protests from students.

There was no fee hike for the past 19 years, the VC said, pointing out that the new fee structure was still less than that in several universities in the country.

The VTU has also hiked the permanent affiliation fee for application from Rs 1,000 in 2016-17 to Rs 2,000 in 2017-18. However, the tuition fee of the students remains unchanged.

Answering a question on the poor financial position of the university, the VC said there was no such crisis.

“Affiliation fee of about Rs 110 crore is collected every year. Currently, the university has a balance of Rs 30 crore, while it spends Rs 6 crore per month for maintenance and disbursal of staff salaries.

However, the university lacks sufficient funds for research and development programmes,” he said.
“We have plans to earmark Rs 1 crore for exceptional projects of UG students. There are plans to set up staff training centres and skill development centres.”