The collection of ₹ 2,000 by Madurai Kamaraj University for issuing a ‘selection certificate’ to those who have cleared the common entrance exam conducted for M. Phil admissions has irked the aspirants, who term the fee as unfair since they were already charged for the examination.
Citing the notification issued for M. Phil and Ph. D admissions by MKU, the M. Phil aspirants point out that they paid ₹ 750 (₹ 500 for Scheduled Caste and ₹ 375 for Scheduled Tribe applicants) while applying for the entrance examination.
The entrance examination by MKU for M. Phil and Ph. D courses offered by its departments and affiliated colleges was conducted for the first time this year as per the revised guidelines issued by University Grants Commission in 2016.
“Generally, when an application fee is collected for an examination, it is presumed to be used for the expenditure to conduct the examination. If that is the case, why collect another ₹ 2,000 for just issuing a selection certificate after the exam,” an aspirant asked.
MKU has said that this selection certificate is the prerequisite for applying to M. Phil programmes offered by its departments and the affiliated colleges.
To add to this, another aspirant, applying for M. Phil in MKU’s School of English and Foreign Languages, pointed out that the university has now asked them to pay another ₹ 400 as ‘application fee’ for applying to M. Phil courses offered by its departments.
Section of students and faculty members have also expressed concern over the fee hike by the university for various courses.
A senior faculty member, speaking on anonymity, said that a circular was sent few days ago to Chairpersons of all the Schools in MKU in this regard. “For a number of courses, the hike is considerable. The fee charged for Ph. D submission, for instance, has almost doubled,” he said.
Another faculty member alleged that the university has not followed due process in increasing the fee. “The issue must have been discussed in Academic Council (AC) and Senate,” he said.
When contacted, Vice-Chancellor P.P. Chellathurai said that the fee of ₹ 2,000 was only to meet the bare minimum expenditure incurred by the university for conducting the entrance examination and the interview. “The process was elaborate with involvement of subject experts for each course,” he said.
Defending the fee hike for other courses, he said that revised fee was still lower than or on par with majority of other universities in Tamil Nadu.
“Moreover, we have implemented a slew of measures to improve the quality of our courses. We have also assured that Viva-Voce for Ph. D will be conducted within three months after thesis submission and Ph. D approvals by the Syndicate are happening in record time these days. This is all going to cost us slightly more.” he added.
He also said that prior approval from AC and Senate was not required since the hike was only marginal.
