Reduce fee hike in Karnataka public universities, provide additional grant: AIDSO

NEW DELHI: All India Democratic Students' Organisation (AIDSO) has demanded a reduction in undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) fees in Karnataka government universities. The statement comes after a higher education reform committee has proposed to bring uniformity in UG, PG fees.

The committee has proposed to bring uniformity in graduation and postgraduation fees of all government universities and has prescribed UG fees starting from Rs 11,500 for various departments. The proposal has been accepted by the state government and it applies to 32 universities in the state.

The AIDSO state secretary Ajay Kamath said that the fees in public universities is 300% higher than that of government degree colleges. He claimed that the enrolment in state-run universities has “fallen to the lowest level” after the hike in fees.

The students group said that many government colleges have already converted into cluster universities and the government college fees, which was at Rs 3,500, now starts from Rs 10,000.

Also read Plea in Madras High Court seeks medical college assessment reports; notices issued to NMC, health ministry

In view of the fee hike imposed, AIDSO urged the state government to provide additional grants to the government universities and fix the degree college fees. The request was made as several universities were reportedly increasing fees due to lack of funding.

The committee, in addition, gave permission to universities to increase fees by 10 percent every year after obtaining the syndicate's permission. “If this is implemented, the degree fees of government universities will reach the level of private degree colleges within two years,” it said.

The students’ group suggested that the state government should implement the same fee scale of government colleges in the degree courses in universities. “Only then the poor students can study in the government universities that have started for them,” it added.