Earlier this month, University Grants Commission (UGC) issued certain draft regulations for deemed-to-be universities however it was not taken  positively by the institutions.

The new draft regulations stated prohibition of  donation or capitation fee, along with it the fee structure should be in compliance with the guidelines by the relevant statutory body. Apart from these, it is mandatory for the deemed-to-be universities to keep a considerable corpus fund of Rs 25 crore or an amount decided by the Commission from time to time which shall be used for development purposes. The fees should be fixed transparently without it not being profiteering.

The draft has been immensely criticised for fixing the tenure of the Chancellor for a maximum period of five years and no re-appointment.
“The Chancellor of the institute in case of deemed-to-be universities is the soul of the institute, being the founder. Fixing the tenure will not really serve the purpose,” Prof Dr G Viswanathan, founder and chancellor of Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) said. He further added, “These regulations are discouraging for private educational institutions which are required to meet the ever rising demand in the education sector”, according to a source.

The Education Promotion Society for India (EPSI) has also submitted its representation to UGC with their dissensions. Further, with the inclusion of the corpus fund, it will  block the capital which used to provide monetary support to the needy meritorious students, EPSI mentioned. Moreover, EPSI has persuaded UGC to form relevant statutory bodies across states to ensure fair practice in terms of fixing fees.

Prof Dr Mangesh Karad, executive president and vice chancellor of MIT-ADT University said, “The fee structure has to be fixed based on the services provided by an institute. A generalised norm in this regard will not work”. The Fee Regulatory Authority in Maharashtra has permitted to fix fees in this way for professional courses, he further added.