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With the rise in fee of private medical colleges, came the rise in worries of engineering seat aspirants.
With all medical, dental and engineering colleges wanting a rise in fee, the State government signed the consensual agreement with medical colleges, agreeing to a 10 per cent fee hike for the 2016–17 academic year. However, private engineering colleges are refusing to sign the pact as the State government has not relented to their request of a 10 to 15 per cent fee hike.
M.K. Panduranga Setty, secretary, Karnataka Unaided Private Engineering Colleges Association, alleged that the government had backtracked on its promise of a fee hike. “They have sent us a consensual agreement with the same fee structure as last years. The Higher Education Minister agreed for a 10 per cent fee hike for government-quota seats and 15 per cent hike for COMEDK-quota seats. But this is not reflected in the fee structure, so we will not sign the agreement. We will wait for the government to convene another meeting,” he said.
Mr. Setty said that it was difficult to run engineering colleges without a hike in fees. “All the costs are increasing and we need to increase the salaries of our faculty members and also look into other recurring costs,” he said. Shafi Ahmed, secretary, Karnataka Religious and Linguistic Minority Professional Colleges Association, said they too had refused to sign the consensual agreement.
Bharat Lal Meena, Additional Chief Secretary, Higher Education, said the meeting was a preliminary one. “There was no commitment made and the engineering college managements put forth their demand. We will call for another round of meetings,” he said.
