DU student groups protest against autonomy for Stephen's College, fear fees hike

Members of the All India Students' Association today held a demonstration outside St Stephen's College against reported moves by the University Grants Commission to grant the institute an autonomous status and claimed it would lead to fee hikes and scuttling of quotas in admissions.

AISA's Delhi University unit said it campaigned against the initiative during the varsity's Open Day sessions for newcomers to apprise their guardians about the issue.

"Last week, a UGC Committee visited St Stephen's to discuss the grant of an autonomous status.Despite joint protests by teachers and students, the committee has reportedly decided to grant the status to the college.Withdrawal of govt funding, massive fee hikes and scuttling of reservation policies are the part and parcel of the status," DU's AISA secretary Madhurima Kundu said.

An autonomous status did not imply academic autonomy, she said.

"There will be no autonomy given to teachers to design their syllabi or to students to choose their research topics.There will be autonomy only to increase fees," she added.

DU AISA president Kawalpreet Kaur told PTI it would campaign against the move at the Open Day sessions to create an awareness among the parents of would-be DU students.

On May 10, members of the St Stephen's College Staff Association and Delhi University Teachers' Association (DUTA) staged a demonstration outside the college to protest against the UGC team's visit.

"Despite several protests, it seems that the government is moving ahead on its agenda of turning colleges and universities of repute into teaching shops through the scheme of Autonomous Colleges and Graded Autonomy," DUTA president Rajib Ray said in a statement.