The recent proposal of the State government asking the public universities in the State to remit the fixed deposits and unspent funds with it has not gone down well with the university officials. Senior university administrators feel that it is a ploy to gag the financial autonomy of the public universities and a game plan to make private universities to flourish.
Countering the move, Vice-Chancellors and Registrars of a few universities have already sent their representation clearly stating that universities are autonomous bodies and are out of the purview of the proposal.
Apart from this, the proposal to stop funding of public universities has also hurt the university community.
“Public universities depend on block grant and it takes care of the salary and pension component. We do not mind if the government stops the funding, but in such a scenario let the government release the salaries and the pension through the treasury department,” says Andhra University Vice-Chancellor G. Nageswara Rao.
Annual budget
The annual budget of AU is around Rs. 500 crore, and the block grant sanctioned by the State government is Rs. 292 crore.
This grant takes care of the annual salary and pension component of the university. The government is yet to release the first instalment of Rs. 74 crore though the year is coming to close.
Andhra University, however, has managed to raise funds from within its sources.
The remaining Rs. 208 crore is met from internal sources. And despite the best effort, AU still fall short by about Rs. 100 crores, as is able to mobilise only around Rs. 100 crore through self-financing courses and project consultancy. In such a scenario if the government thinks of stopping the funding, the public universities will close down.
The same is the case with all the 14 odd state universities in the State, according to AU Registrar Umamaheswara Rao.
Public universities were established to serve the common man, and the fee for the courses has been kept very low for affordability.
The maximum annual fee including engineering courses do not exceed a maximum of Rs. 20,000, across all the State-run universities. And in comparison the average fee for MBA or B. Tech course in a private university exceeds Rs. 1.2 lakh.Even the self-financing course fee in the State-run universities is very low and much below the normal fee in private universities. And moreover, it is regulated by the government.
