Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) will not increase tuition fees for the academic year 2020-21 because of the crisis triggered by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), human resource development (HRD) minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ said in New Delhi on Sunday.
“After consultation with the chairman of the standing committee of the IIT Council and directors of IITs, it has been decided that these institutes will not increase the tuition fee for academic year 2020-21 for any course,” the minister said.
IIT-Delhi has already said it has decided not to hike the fees for its post graduate courses. Sunday’s decision meant that all 23 IITs will stick to their fee structure followed for both undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the 2019-2020 academic session.
“There is a view in the HRD ministry that premier institutions can step forward and take decisions which will benefit the student community as a whole…,” said a government official.
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A decision on the fees of undergraduate courses are taken jointly in the IIT Council, which is headed by the HRD minister, while individual IITs take a call on the fee structure of other courses such as M.Tech or MBA. For most courses, the fee structures are decided before the commencement of the academic session in June-July.
Also, the centrally funded IIITs, or triple ITs as they are popularly known, will not implement a standard 10% tuition fee hike for undergraduate courses, the HRD minister said, adding that he requested these institutes not to increase fees for other courses as well.
“On similar lines, I have requested the IIITs run in the public-private partnership (PPP) mode not to increase the tuition fee for the coming academic year for any of their courses,” he added.
The IIIT Coordination Forum is the apex body for deciding policy and directions for 20 such institutes established under PPP. These IIITs are partially supported by government. Separately, the IIIT Council takes decisions related to the centrally funded IIITs.
Courtesy: hindustan times
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