Be prepared for the possibility of paying more if you want to pursue engineering courses next year. ‘Top-rated’ colleges are proposing to fix their fee structure based on their infrastructure as well as investments.
However, these proposals will have to first go through a fee regulatory committee headed by former High Court judge Ajit J Gunjal. The colleges have been asked to submit to the committee their proposed fee structure along with other relevant documents before December 31. The committee, which has identified 98 overheads of various fees, has prepared a meticulous format that colleges have to fill up. Colleges have to furnish revenue receipts and records of expenditure for the last three academic years, total fees collected over the same period, physical infrastructure, human resource details and proposed growth plans for 2014-15.
This exercise is a part of the implementation of the Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Determination of Fee) Act, 2006, which will be implemented next year onwards. Before the commencement of the Act, fees were determined through a consensual agreement between colleges and the State government.
Colleges fixing fees based on infrastructure and other facilities is natural, said M K Panduranga Setty, secretary, Karnataka Unaided Private Engineering Colleges’ Association (KUPECA).
“The fees we charged for government quota students was clearly inadequate. The fixation of the fees will have to be categorical based on infrastructure and facilities of colleges. Half of the seats will go to reserved categories, the rest for general merit, but there cannot be different fees. There will be one fee,” Setty said.
Meanwhile, a meeting has been convened involving professional colleges and the admission overseeing committee headed by former HC judge V Jagannathan at the Vidhana Soudha on December 16. “The meeting will seek to inform colleges on what they need to ensure during and after their own entrance tests,” said Rajneesh Goel, principal secretary (Higher Education).
COMED-K Entrance Test To Continue
Private professional colleges have decided to continue their own entrance test through the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka (COMED-K).
The 2006 Act provides for a single common entrance test followed by centralised counselling through a single window for all unaided colleges in the State.
The Common Entrance Test (CET), however, will be conducted by the government only for State-run and aided institutes. “We have conveyed this to the government in a meeting on Thursday,” Setty said.