NIFT director justifies fee hike

The insitute's fee structure is the lowest, but its infrastructure the best when compared to similar institutions, says Director N.J. Rajaram

A day after students’ protests, the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) justified the fee hike in the name of increasing operational costs.

The fee structure of the NIFT is the lowest when compared to other similar institutions, even while the institute’s infrastructure is the best, Director of Hyderabad campus N.J. Rajaram said at a press conference here on Tuesday.

City students back to class

While the strike is on at quite a few NIFT campuses across the country, students at Hyderabad have returned to their classes on Tuesday, following a meeting with the Director and faculty on Monday evening. While authorities attribute it to the students reconciling with the fee hike, the latter have informed that it was only a conditional retreat till the issue is addressed at central level.

“We have a promise from the Director that the issue will be discussed with higher-ups in Delhi. We will wait till Friday, and in case of no positive outcome, we shall plan an indefinite strike,” said a student.

Of positive outcome, there is no sign yet.

Rs. 15,000 more per semester

The fee hike has hit the final year students harder, as they have so far remained immune to the annual fee hike. They have been charged with Rs.40,000 per semester as tuition fee since 2010 when they joined the institute, and the recent hike across the board will burden them by Rs.15,000 more per semester.

There are other charges such as security deposit, alumni association membership, library fee, mediclaim and exam fee, which will add up to Rs.75,500 at admission time. Library fee and mediclaim are charged once every year, while exam fee too is added from this year on.

Added to all this, there is a general discontent among students, about the campus placements and pay packages.

Cost of operation up

However, Dr. Rajaram said, compared to last year, the fee hike has been only 10 per cent.

While the freshers last year paid Rs.50,000 per semester, this year, they will pay Rs.55,000. Cost of operations has increased, and the institute is footing enormous power bills, besides having to operate diesel generators during power outages, he informed.

While capital costs of NIFT are borne by the Central government, all the operational costs are self-financed. While admitting that there is a “problem with placements”, he said the institute is striving to get more companies for recruitment, and to diversify into newer fields.