₹20K–65K fee hike for tech courses at 6 CoEs

Ahmedabad: Students who gained admission in 11 prestigious institutions declared Centre of Excellence (CoEs) in Gujarat will have to pay more. Top education sources said that BTech and BArch technical degree courses in six major CoEs have become expensive by Rs 20,000 to Rs 67,000 from this year, after the state-level committee approved the hike.

In other CoEs, the fee hike ranges from Rs 8,000 to Rs 18,000 per annum.Some of the CoEs had asked for as high as a 70-80% fee hike, said sources. It is expected that the revised fees will be announced within a week.The Appellate Committee for Centre of Excellence, Gujarat, controls fees of 11 CoEs, including Ahmedabad University, CEPT University, Dhirubhai Ambani University, Nirma University and Pandit Deendayal Energy University, among others.

The CoE status allows the universities and institutions to increase their fees annually. However, for the hike, the approval of the committee is a must, said the state govt’s technical education department.According to reliable information available to TOI, the BTech course at Ahmedabad University cost Rs 3.75 lakh, which would now cost Rs 4.25 lakh. The BTech course at Dhirubhai Ambani University, which cost Rs 3.57 lakh, will now cost Rs 3.85 lakh.

Likewise, the cost of a BTech course at Nirma University has increased from Rs 2.55 lakh to Rs 2.75 lakh and for PDEU, the figures are Rs 2.75 lakh and Rs 3 lakh, respectively.The BArch course at CEPT University has seen about an 11% rise, from Rs 4.55 lakh to Rs 5.08 lakh, according to sources."These figures are provisional and would soon be notified by the authorities. These are for the technical courses such as BTech, and the fee hike in courses including BPharm, ME and MBA will be notified soon," said a senior state govt official.

"The demand was for over 70% fee hike, which has been curtailed to less than 15%."Sources pointed out that the hike must be notified before the admission process starts so that the students and parents could make a decision about getting admission in the course of their choice in the institution of their choice and can also compare the fee structure of different institutions. However, it is already late for the purpose, with the admissions underway for the majority of these institutions without clarity on the fee hike.Senior govt officials said that the CoEs are free to increase fees annually, but for the same they must submit the books of account for the last year, expenditure and sources of income and also provide a projection for the next year and why the fee hike is justified.It is notable that thousands of students get admission in these institutions and the CoE tag is for innovation and infrastructure.