Pondicherry University has more than doubled the fees an increase of a whopping 125 per cent for their MBA courses — triggering widespread protests by the students' forums including the Students Federation of India (SFI) and the Students' Council of the Pondicherry University (PU). The university has hiked the annual fees for the MBA courses from Rs 74,200 in the academic year 2018-19 to Rs 1.66 lakh in the academic year 2019-20.
"Pondicherry University Students' Council submitted a representation demanding the revoke of the MBA fee hike. The representation has been submitted to the Registrar and a copy has been forwarded to the VC's Secretariat, director and the Dean's Office, School of Management. The Students' Council will take further action on the basis of responses from authorities on this representation," says Junaid Nazar, the president of the Students' Council of Pondicherry University.
In a letter to the Registrar on March 8, 2019, the students' council president pointed out that the fee for all the MBA courses were hiked by 125 per cent for the 2019-20 academic year without any contemplation. The revised fee structure would result in the denial of higher educational opportunities of many students from poor economic and social background, the council stated in the letter. The council also strongly opposed the revision of fees and demanded the immediate revocation of the hiked fee structure, called it an 'anti-student move'.
They also mentioned in the letter that they came to know from various university sources that there is a move to increase the fee structure of all other courses too and made it clear that the council would strongly oppose it and conduct protests if necessary. "We requested the authorities to withdraw the hiked fee structure for the MBA courses and refrain from increasing fee for any other courses as well. We have also cautioned that a student protest will be called for under the initiative of the council if the university failed to initiate action within three to four days," adds Junaid.
The Students Federation of India president, the unit secretary, and the members also submitted a representation to the Registrar to revoke the fee hike on March 11, 2019. "The fees for all the MBA courses have been increased by 125 per cent without any contemplation. The university doubled the fees for MBA courses. Certain fees such as amenities development fund, industry-interface fund and placement assistance fund that were paid by students only once during the admission have now been made yearly. University officials have also been saying that they are going to increase the fee of all courses by at least 20 per cent from the next academic year. We have demanded that fee revision is revoked and we also strongly oppose this huge increase," says SFI-PU president C P Uvais.
(This article was originally published on EdexLive)