Anna University (AU) is likely to hike fees for the courses offered by its departments and its constituent colleges from this academic year.
Speaking to Express, vice chancellor of the university M K Surappa said the syndicate of the university has approved the decision of fee hike and it will be notified soon. “We will soon provide all details of the fee hike in our website,” said Surappa. The fee hike will be made for the courses offered by the university and its constituent colleges.
He further stated that a nominal hike will be done to ensure that students from economically weaker sections will not be affected. Surappa stressed that it was necessary to hike the fees in order to meet the expenses of the university. "In last few years, lot of infrastructure development activities has taken place in the university but for last one decade, there has been no revision of fees. The institution is not a profit making body but we need to generate revenue to meet the expenses of the institute. Keeping all things in mind, a nominal fee hike will be done," said Surappa. The vice-chancellor did not divulge the amount of hike.
However, university sources said the authorities have planned to hike at least 35 per cent to 40 per cent fees for the different courses. The varsity officials said the fees hike is necessary and the university is struggling to manage its expenses.
Sources in the university said the last fee hike was done in the university in the year 2000."It’s been almost 19 years that the fee structure of Anna University has remained unchanged. The university charges around Rs8000 for one semester while the private colleges charge in lakhs for the same course. People need to understand that there is a need to hike the fees in order to create better facilities in the university," said a senior official of the university.
According to sources in the university, the state government has opposed the decision of Anna University to hike fees and has sought its details from varsity authorities. When Express contacted Higher education secretary Mangat Ram Sharma for his reaction on the issue, he said, "I don’t have any idea about the matter. I am trying to find out whether any such decision has been taken by AU."
