PU hikes examination fee

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 22

Panjab University has introduced a new fee structure. It has hiked the examination fee between Rs 500 and Rs 8,000 for 2016-17. The proposal was approved by the Syndicate at its meeting chaired by Vice-Chancellor Arun Kumar Grover here today. However, there will be no hike in the tuition fee.

Under the new fee structure introduced by the university, while in a few courses the examination fee has decreased, in others it has increased.

The maximum hike in the examination fee has been made in the case of PhD in which the existing fee varies between Rs 4,000 and Rs 12,000, but now it will be Rs 12,000 for all subjects.

At present, the university has over 100 “exam fee structures” for various departments. Under the new fee structure, it will have 15 new fee structures.

Once the new fee structure is in place, the university authorites hope to generate an additional revenue of Rs 40 crore. At present, the examination branch generates around Rs 88 crore annually.

Members were of the view that they should look for other ways to increase the revenue of the university rather than increasing the tuition fee this year. They also suggested that the affiliation fee of colleges should be increased. 

Besides, Kashmiri migrants’ seats were approved as per the previous academic session.

Student parties hold protest

Student parties on Friday staged a protest outside the administrative block before the commencement of the Syndicate meeting against the fee hike proposal.

The parties said if the grant received from the Centre was inadequate, the university should raise the issue with the ministry rather than increasing the fee and burdening the students.