DU gets Rs 3 crore from foreign students

NEW DELHI, February 7: With the country8217;s higher education system facing its worst crisis ever and the government randomly slashing funds, every university is struggling to raise funds. Delhi University, which has been solely funded by the government for years, has recently found a new means to raise money. It now charges 600 from foreign undergraduate students as tuition fee. A year ago, it was charging a minimal amount which was raised in the academic session 1998-99.

The scheme was launched five years ago when the university asked foreign under-graduate students to pay a paltry 150 as tuition fee. Post-graduate and doctorate students had to earlier pay 200 and 250 respectively to the university authorities. It was upgraded marginally three years ago. Now, undergraduates, postgraduates and research scholars pay 600, 700, 800 respectively. Foreign Students Advisor Prof A.S. Narag told Express Newsline: 8220;We have collected Rs 3 crore over the past five years. With the government refusing to help us solve our accommodation problems, we will put the money to good use.8221; The money will be used to build an international students house for women which, they believe, will go a long way towards providing shelter to the 1040 foreign students who have not been given hostel rooms.

The existing international students house has only 66 seats to offer. Ten per cent of the rooms in other hostels are reserved for foreign students. Says Prof Narag: 8220;This arrangement provided accommodation for only 15 to 20 per cent of the foreign students enrolled at DU. When we approached the government for assistance, they expressed their inability to help. Instead, they asked us to work in close cooperation with the private sector. DU does not have a tradition of working hand in hand with private firms. The only way out was to ask students to pay for themselves8221;.

With the mounting resource crunch, the colleges affiliated to DU also demanded a share in the booty. The college authorities now receive 100 dollars every year from each foreign student. The Foreign Students Office assures that 8220;not a penny collected has been spent till now. All the money will go into building a hostel for them8221;.

Land for the new hostel has been demarcated at Dhaka village in Mukherjee Nagar in north Delhi. The blueprint for the hostel has been prepared by the School of Planning and Architecture. The hostel, however, can accommodate 100 students only.