<p class="bodytext">Close on the heels of the annual fee for engineering courses being hiked by 7.5%, the Fee Regulatory Committee (FRC), headed by former High Court judge Justice Srinivas Gowda, has asked private engineering colleges in the state to share their proposed fee structure.</p>.<p class="bodytext">After the FRC asked the Department of Higher Education to issue relevant directions to the private colleges, the department intimated the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) to in turn inform its affiliate colleges to share the details sought by the committee.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In addition to the proposed fee structure, colleges have been asked to submit audited financial statements, records and relevant certificates dating back three years. The FRC has instructed colleges to ensure that the fees are charged exclusively for educational expenses such as salaries and allowance for teaching and non-teaching staff, administrative expenses, maintenance of infrastructure, et al. The colleges must charge pre-applicable statutory rates for each of the services.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“Costs incurred for services other than those pertaining to education must not be included,” the FRC stated in its communication.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The FRC is keen on fixing the fee for professional courses for the 2026-27 academic year. Queried about the Higher Education Department’s decision to hike the fee for engineering courses, Justice Gowda said, “We are not aware of the department’s meeting with representatives of private institutions. The committee has not been informed <br />about it.”</p>.<p class="bodytext">He said that medical colleges and institutions offering other professional courses too would be asked to share their proposed fee structure with the committee.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Then chairman of the FRC Justice D V Shylendra Kumar had fixed the fee for professional courses for the 2018-19 academic year, despite which the government went ahead and signed a consensual agreement with private institutions. This subsequently prompted the committee to instruct the government to ensure that the fee was not hiked by more than 8%. Although the committee was constituted under the provisions of the Karnataka Professional Education Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Determination of Fee) Act, 2006, the government insists on signing agreements with colleges each year, keeping the act in abeyance.</p>
<p class="bodytext">Close on the heels of the annual fee for engineering courses being hiked by 7.5%, the Fee Regulatory Committee (FRC), headed by former High Court judge Justice Srinivas Gowda, has asked private engineering colleges in the state to share their proposed fee structure.</p>.<p class="bodytext">After the FRC asked the Department of Higher Education to issue relevant directions to the private colleges, the department intimated the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) to in turn inform its affiliate colleges to share the details sought by the committee.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In addition to the proposed fee structure, colleges have been asked to submit audited financial statements, records and relevant certificates dating back three years. The FRC has instructed colleges to ensure that the fees are charged exclusively for educational expenses such as salaries and allowance for teaching and non-teaching staff, administrative expenses, maintenance of infrastructure, et al. The colleges must charge pre-applicable statutory rates for each of the services.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“Costs incurred for services other than those pertaining to education must not be included,” the FRC stated in its communication.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The FRC is keen on fixing the fee for professional courses for the 2026-27 academic year. Queried about the Higher Education Department’s decision to hike the fee for engineering courses, Justice Gowda said, “We are not aware of the department’s meeting with representatives of private institutions. The committee has not been informed <br />about it.”</p>.<p class="bodytext">He said that medical colleges and institutions offering other professional courses too would be asked to share their proposed fee structure with the committee.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Then chairman of the FRC Justice D V Shylendra Kumar had fixed the fee for professional courses for the 2018-19 academic year, despite which the government went ahead and signed a consensual agreement with private institutions. This subsequently prompted the committee to instruct the government to ensure that the fee was not hiked by more than 8%. Although the committee was constituted under the provisions of the Karnataka Professional Education Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Determination of Fee) Act, 2006, the government insists on signing agreements with colleges each year, keeping the act in abeyance.</p>
