Odisha: Govt tells colleges, universities to adopt uniform fee structure
BHUBANESWAR: To avoid discrepancies in academics, the higher education department has directed the state-run universities and colleges to implement a uniform fee structure for all the regular courses offered by them from the coming academic year.
In a letter to the heads of higher education institutions, higher education department secretary Saswat Mishra said the issue of differential fee structure in some regular subjects was discussed with the vice-chancellors and a decision to overcome it and adopt a uniform fee structure for the courses was taken.
“Since the state public universities are being financed by the state government with the purpose of providing education at an affordable cost, there should not be any differential fee structure for the seats in regular subjects,” said Mishra, adding that the uniform fee structure is not applicable to the self-financing courses offered by these institutions.
The universities can start self-financing courses other than the regular subjects approved by the state government. Therefore, regular subjects or seats created with the approval of the state government should not have any differential fee structure, said Mishra, adding that the practice should be discontinued from the ensuing academic session.
Padmaja Mishra, the vice-chancellor of Rama Devi Women’s University, said, “There are some seats in every regular subject where there was the issue of differential fee structure. It was raised with the higher education department in the previous vice-chancellors’ conference held in March. In line with the order, we will take steps to eliminate the practice and collect the same fee from every student for the seats offered in the regular subjects from the forthcoming academic session. With its implementation, the students irrespective of their categories, will pay the same fee in regular courses.”
It must be noted here that in the absence of a clear order from the higher education department, several universities and autonomous colleges in the state have been fixing their own fees for the regular subjects. The admission fee was the same for all since it is done through e-admission, but the re-admission and other fees were different in different institutions.
“The department should have done it earlier. They should now come up with a mechanism and set a uniform fee structure for all the regular subjects. It should remain the same for all the colleges and universities,” social worker Alok Kar said, adding the decision will bring relief to students and parents.