More autonomy for IITs: Individual institutes may soon decide their own fee structure

New Delhi: The IITs (Indian Institute of Technology) may no longer have to consult with their apex governing council about their fee structure.

It is hoped the autonomy to decide their own fee structure would save time and help boost efficiency.

"The Board of Governors is likely to be given the authority to decide the fee structure for the respective IIT. Currently, they are part of the fee deciding process but are not the final authority," PTI quoted a source as saying.

However, it wasn't immediately clear whether the idea, if approved, will be applicable to all IITs or limited campuses.

At present, the fee structure is determined by the IIT council, the top decision-making body, which is chaired by the Union human resource development minister and includes IIT directors and board of governors of each institute.

The IITs are autonomous public institutes of higher education. The 23 IITs are located in following cities: Bhilai, Chennai, Delhi, Dhanbad, Dharwad, Goa, Guwahati, Jammu, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Mumbai, Roorkee, Bhubaneswar, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, Indore, Jodhpur, Mandi, Palakkad, Patna, Ropar, Tirupati and Varanasi.

Former HRD Minister Smriti Irani had in April announced an increase in the annual fees for undergraduate courses from existing Rs. 90,000 to Rs. 2 lakh, a rise of 122 percent, for new enrollments from the current academic session.

The Ministry had also decided to give a total fee waiver for the differently-abled, students from SC and ST community and those belonging to families with annual income less than Rs. 1 lakh, following a proposal by a high-level IIT panel.