Govt wants to fix fees in private colleges

This Bill restricts the fee that could be charged from students to the location, land and building cost, available infrastructure, administration expense and the nature of the course offered by them.

The fee would be fixed in a manner that it shall not amount to ‘‘profiteering or commercialisation of education,’’ says the bill.

How much the fee will be will no longer be in the hands of the management but an Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee, headed by a former Vice-Chancellor with two members with experience in Finance and Administration. Its tenure would be three years.

The institutes will not have much say even in the number of seats that they can fill on their own. The bill fixes the percentage that would be in management control and stipulates that these be filled through a common entrance test under the watchful eye of the committee.

The management quota in an unaided minority institution would not be less than 50 per cent of the sanctioned seats while in aided ones, it cannot cross 50 per cent. In unaided non-minority institutes, the management may reserve up to 50 per cent. This quota in aided non-minority institutes would be 15 per cent or less.

Of the general quota, 15 per cent would be filled on all-India basis in the manner prescribed by the Central government. Reservation for Scheduled Castes and Tribes and other notified weaker sections would be out of the general category.

Besides, the bill allows these institutes to admit foreign students up to 15 per cent of the sanctioned intake, over and above the permitted limit.

However, these provisions would not apply to deemed universities that would have to reserve 50 per cent of its seats for students from the state in which the constituent unit is located.