The cash-strapped Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) has now hiked the fees for research scholars pursuing Ph.D. While the fees paid by full-time candidates has been increased by around 40% this year, part-time candidates have to pay over 69% more when compared with the previous year. This move comes shortly after the university increased examination fees of its engineering students.
The university has increased the fees under several sub-heads such as the viva fees, convocation certificate fees, thesis submission fees and exam fees. It has doubled the fees for Ph.D defence from ₹10,000 to ₹20,000 in both categories. Other than the tuition fees, all the other fees are to be paid only once.
Full-time scholars will have to shell out ₹89,000 this year, a 40.6% increase from the earlier ₹63,300; part-time scholars will have to pay ₹96,600, a 69.18% increase from ₹57,100.
The move has not got down well among research scholars who plan to register their protest with the university. Faculty members too are critical of this move.
Candidates who are pursuing the course full time are feeling the pinch as they do not have any other source of income. “Part-time candidates work elsewhere and complete their research work and can live on their salaries. But for us, we do not have any income or stipend and paying such a huge sum will not be feasible,” said a research scholar who works in a city-based college.
The university has also decided to increase the fees that undergraduate students will have to pay. While it is a 75% increase for Karnataka students, out-of-State students will see their fees hiked by 56%.
University officials, however, said the hike in fees was inevitable as they have not been revised for several years now. “We want to improve infrastructure for research,” said Vice-Chancellor Karisiddappa.
The university has increase the examination fees and affiliation fees as it has ₹30 crore in its account and incurs a monthly expenditure of ₹6 crore. “Research and development in the university has come to a standstill after the Income Tax Department seized ₹441 crore from the university’s funds for not paying taxes from its inception in 1998,” an official of the university said.
