Kakodkar committee for steep hike in IIT fee

Justifying its recommendat­ion for hike in tuition fee of the premier engineering institut­ions, the Anil Kakodkar committee said that it was reasonable considering the high demand for IIT graduates and the salary that an IIT BTech is expected to get.
“The tuition fees of IITs sh­o­uld be between Rs 2–2.5 lakh per year per student,” committee recommended in its report. It proposed that the fee ch­arged by the IITs should cover the full operational cost of education, which works out to be roughly 30 per cent of the total current cost of education.

There should be “hassle-free” bank loan scheme specific to IIT students. “No collateral would be required. This would enable access to all eligible and deserving students,” it added.

The committee has come up with its recommendation for four fold fee hike in IITs despite the suggestion was rejected by Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal during a meeting of IIT council earlier in January this year.

Sibal was of the view that such huge fee would not be affordable to a large number of st­udents and hence the committee should reconsider its su­ggestion to increase fee by four times.

The committee made presentation of its final report bef­o­re the HRD minister this week. Sources said that Sibal, who was already not convinced with the suggestion to increase the tuition fee of IITs, noted that its implementation would be difficult. The report will now be placed before IIT council and opinion of all the stake ho­l­ders will be sought before any final decision is taken, sources said.

The committee has also proposed that Ministry sh­ould fully provide for fees and living expenses for all research students (post graduates) as well as under graduate students from weaker sections as per currently prevalent no­r­ms at IITs.

“In addition, all students whose parental income is less than Rs 4.5 lakh per annum (to be revised from time to time), should be paid scholarships covering 100 per cent fees, and a monthly stipend,” the committee suggested.

It also proposed to give inc­e­ntives like deferm­ent of loans for students entering postgraduate education and research and proportionate repayment of loan for students joining as faculty and researchers into programmes at IITs and other areas.