The Syndicate, which is the governing body of the PU has approved a 5 percent fee hike for PU affiliated colleges in Punjab and Chandigarh. The fee is hiked for both tuition fee and examination fee.
The decision to hike the fee will affect to as many as 188 colleges and around 2.5 lakh students.
The committee was held under the leadership of Prof RS Jhanji, Principal of AS College, Khanna on September 29, 2017. As per the minutes of the meeting an overall hike of 5 percent in ‘all heads of affiliated colleges’ was recommended, subject to a maximum of Rs. 1000. The committee was set up for the reason that the admissions in the colleges affiliated to PU have seen a downtrend over the years owing to private universities being opened up in the region and offering various degree courses.
Further, it was stated at the meeting that providing better amenities, infrastructure, hygienic and conducive environment is a challenge of PU affiliated colleges. The fee structure must be rationalized up to a reasonable rate as if the fee is enhanced in a huge way, it might further decrease the number of admissions in the colleges affiliated to PU.
Fee Hike For Punjab University Department Adjourned
A fee hike of 10 percent, both tuition fee and examination fee, for 2018-19 for PU departments was also to be discussed by the Syndicate. However, the Syndicate postponed the issue to bring more parity in the fee structure. A fee hike of 5 percent in all self-financing courses for existing students and 10 percent for new students, except the MPharma courses in the University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (UIPS) and UIAMS (University Institute of Applied Management Sciences was proposed by Prof Meenakshi Malhotra in a PU committee under the Dean of University Instructions.
A 10 percent hike was recommended in the tuition fee for all traditional and professional courses subject to a maximum of Rs. 1,000. There was also a proposal of a hike of 10 percent in the user and maintenance charges of all the courses across the board. The examination fee of all the courses is also to be raised by 10 percent subject to a maximum of Rs 200 per semester. The fee hike in PU department was opposed by Senator Rabindra Sharma.