IIT fees hiked to Rs 90,000

Government wants institutes to be independent, says minister

New entrants to any of the 16 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) will now have to shell out 80 per cent more than what their seniors so far paid as tuition fees per annum.

The IIT council, headed by Human Resource Development Minister M M Pallam Raju, has approved a steep hike in the tuition fees of the undergraduate programmes of the premier technical institutes from the current Rs 50,000 per annum to Rs 90,000 per annum. “The new fees structure, to be reviewed every year, will be applicable to new entrants from this year,” the minister told journalists while briefing them on the decisions taken by the council at its meeting held here on Monday.

He, however, clarified that the new fee structure will not be applicable to those who are already pursuing undergraduate programmes at the premier institutions. “Old students will not be affected by the fee hike. They will continue to pay the amount of fees what they are paying,” he said.

The minister also clarified that the decision of the IIT council towards annual review of the fee structure of the premier institutes does not mean it will be increased every year. “The fee may be revised periodically,” a ministry official said. The fee of the undergraduate courses of the IITs was last revised from Rs 25,000 per annum to Rs 50,000 per annum from the 2008-09 academic session.

No fee is charged from the students belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Besides, 25 per cent of the total students, whose parental income is less than 4.5 lakh per annum, are also given 100 per cent scholarship. “This will continue,” Raju said, when asked if SC and ST students as well as those whose parental income was less that 4.5 lakh would also now have to pay tuition fees.

The decision to hike the fees of the IITs was taken to enable IITs generate its own resources to meet its various expenditures. “If you look at IIMs, they are fairly independent and are generating their resources.  Like IIMs, we want IITs also to be independent,” Raju said.

Eighty  per cent of the total budget of the premier technical institutes now is funded by the government.

The hike has been introduced following recommendations of the group of directors of IITs and Empowered Task Force. The Kakodkar Committee, however, had recommended a steep hike of Rs 2-2.5 lakh per annum from the existing Rs 50,000, he maintained.
The council also decided to hold peer review of the each of the IITs once in every five years, besides an internal review of the premier institutes by themselves.

The peer review committee will comprise five eminent persons from industry and academia to be selected by the HRD minister, who happens to be the chairman of the IIT council, out of 10 names given by the board of governors of respective institutes.

The review, the results of which will be uploaded on the websites of the institutes and councils, will be based on similar well-established review system in world class institutes.
 It will be “rigorous and forward looking,” the minister added.