The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : New policy will turn heat on smaller colleges

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Tuesday, Mar 03, 2009
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

New policy will turn heat on smaller colleges

Deepa Kurup

Prominent colleges may not have to give many concessions under ‘poor and meritorious’ category

Tier-II colleges will have an influx of students who will seek concessions
Smaller colleges find it difficult to fill in the private quota

BANGALORE: A populist deal the government has cut with private engineering colleges this year, wherein private colleges will offer a substantial fee concession to “poor and meritorious” students, weighs the scales against tier-II colleges.

Ruling out a quota system for 25 per cent “poor” students, officials in the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) said that because (statistically) few “poor” students make it to “affluent, prominent” colleges, those seeking concessions under this scheme are likely to all land up in middle-rung colleges.

The problem will come to the fore once the fine print on the “poor and meritorious” clause is out. A KEA source explained: “The concession is set to be based on parents’ income. But owing to lack of access to good coaching or tuition, ‘poor’ students making it to the first few thousand ranks has been low. Naturally, prominent colleges, which top rankers opt for, will need to offer very few concessions.”

“Poor and meritorious” is not a reservation category. “So, an RVCE or a PESIT, where seats are filled by rank 2,000, will not have to give many concessions, but tier-II colleges will have an influx of students who will seek concessions,” the official points out.

Difficult

Smaller, less-prominent and newer colleges, which are already strapped for cash, find it difficult to fill in the private quota every year. For instance, last year, of the 11,850 seats in 123 private colleges allotted through the private college consortium COMED-K in the private category, 3,908 remained vacant. Many of these colleges gave seats at throwaway prices, as less as Rs. 25,000.

Last month, after the meeting with the government, private college managements walked away with an additional five per cent seats. In return, they will provide half the government quota seats — 25 per cent of the total seats — at a concessional rate of Rs. 15,000, as against Rs. 25,000. Considering the remaining 50 per cent seats, allotted separately by COMED-K, can charge fees up to Rs. 1.25 lakh, private colleges should be able to more than profit from this deal.

Sample this: In a private college with 100 seats, the management will have to give concessions worth Rs. 2.5 lakh, which can be made up by the additional 5 per cent seats which can rake in up to Rs. 5 lakh.

But if there are few takers for the COMED-K seats — which will most likely be the case — then the college will have to bear the burden.

A principal of a seven-year-old engineering college in Bangalore saw reduced intake of nearly 40 per cent in three departments during 2008. Furthermore, management seats in branches such as civil engineering and information sciences were given even at Rs. 35,000.

“There is a dip in demand, and colleges (apart from the established ones) are struggling. If we will have to hand out concessions for a large chunk of students, even as the higher-fee seats remain empty, how can we manage?” the principal asked.

With AICTE pay-hikes on the anvil and increasing costs, even top colleges are finding it difficult to manage. Jawahar D., CEO of PESIT, a top engineering college, said that this issue needs to be resolved before the notification is out.

“Prominent colleges, which may not have to offer concessions, may have to agree to help out the smaller colleges.”

Panduranga Shetty, president of Karnataka Unaided Private Engineering Colleges Association, agrees this policy will hurt smaller colleges. How then this year will these colleges be expected to survive?

“Last year, many seats went at nominal prices. While political pressure may drive the government, it will prove detrimental to managements,” he said.

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