Education, Careers & Professional News
IIM, IIT fee hike: Is it necessary?
THE NEWS is that there is a hike in the fees of various Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) all over the country and the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) too are willing to follow suit soon.
So, the question, which comes up is how far is it justified? Are these top institutes really short of money to improve upon their performance? For that matter, Union Human Resource Development (HRD) minister Arjun Singh is, too, irked by this decision. He, in fact, has directed top officials to constitute an independent regulatory authority for higher education. Even the National Knowledge Commission has asked for an independent regulator for higher education.
HRD officials are also irked that they were caught unawares. Two of the ministry’s representatives, higher education secretary RP Agrawal and financial advisor SK Ray did not attend the meeting on Saturday. The proposal to hike the fees was not circulated in the agenda of the board meeting, they claimed.
While ministry officials claim that IIM-A doesn’t need a three-fold hike, which may affect access to economically weaker students, the IIM has, in fact, increased the income-limit for parents of students applying for a scholarship. The existing income limit for parents or guardians of students, who want to avail of scholarships, is two lakh rupees per year. This has been increased to six lakh rupees per year, which significantly widens the net of students eligible for scholarships.
It should also be pointed out here that between 2002 and 2007, the institute raised its fees from Rs 1.58 lakh to two lakh rupees, ministry officials argue for a gradual and graded increase and added that as for expansion, it was the government that would pick up the tab - it has earmarked Rs 53 crores for the IIMs based on the Moily committee’s recommendations.
However, IIM-A officials have their own arguments. They say that the institute is facing a shortage of faculty and in order to get new teachers and retain existing ones, they will have to be given attractive fiscal incentives. At the same time they have to keep in mind the pay commission recommendations for salaries as well as higher salaries for those whom IIM-A want to keep at industry-level salaries.
The recent move of former IIM-A director Bakul Dholakia to the Adani group, where he is heading the education initiatives of the group, is the cause for this fee hike. It is an absolute necessity to keep valuable human resource like him in the institute and therefore pay faculty members like him better salaries. Dholakia is on a year long leave from IIM-A.
More : merinews.com