The government has laid to rest speculation over admissions to professional courses in the State by announcing that the consensual agreement will be continued for the academic year 2015-16.
While students can breathe easy about there being government-quota seats in private colleges, how subsidised are these seats going to be? The government has, for now, maintained that no decision has been taken as far as the fee is concerned. But with the government deciding to amend the Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Determination of Fee) Act, 2006 to incorporate the consensual agreement, the concept of different fee for different colleges may fall through. This will negate the months of work by the Fee Regulatory Committee, sources say. Sources in the government have made it amply clear that there is no escaping a fee hike this academic year, as the fee structure has been the same since 2012-13. This hike, which could be anywhere between 10 per cent and 12 per cent, could be across the board, including for government-quota seats, sources said. Fee for postgraduate medical seats has already been hiked. Even the Karnataka Unaided Private Engineering Colleges’ Association, which was adamant on having the 2006 Act implemented, developed cracks with the smaller colleges agreeing to make do with a marginal hike.
A management representative from a well-known engineering college said they would be forced to charge students in the management and NRI quotas extra to make up for the subsidised seats.
