TG govt to introduce new fee structure for engineering courses
Hyderabad: With several engineering colleges across Telangana hiking fees as per their whims and fancies, and in view of serious allegations that the erstwhile Bharat Rashtra Samithi government allowed select colleges to enhance fees despite the submission of a vigilance enquiry report into the status of colleges seeking to increase fees, the present TG government has decided introduce a new fee structure in all engineering colleges from the new academic year.
Towards this end, the government has decided to finalise the fee structure after taking into consideration the quality of education, teaching standards and faculty accomplishments, lab facilities, buildings, and other infrastructure provided in the colleges concerned. Besides, the government will consider a verdict of the Supreme Court in this regard.
Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, who holds the portfolio of the state Education department, instructed the officials concerned to constitute an official committee to study and finalise the fee structure before the beginning of the counseling in all engineering colleges.
Officials said that the previous government had asked the Vigilance and Enforcement Department to inspect facilities, teaching staff composition and other aspects in engineering colleges.
The department conducted field inspections and submitted a report. However, the previous government did not act on the report. Instead, the BRS government reportedly gave freedom to some colleges to increase fees and adopted a biased attitude towards other colleges.
Now, the present government will inter alia evaluate the quality of education provided in engineering colleges and then take a decision on fees, after examining the vigilance report. At the same time, the state government has decided to complete the counseling process for admissions in engineering colleges within the stipulated time.
Further, the government would consider the Supreme Court’s s directions in the Islamic Academy of Education vs. Karnataka and PA Inamdar and Others vs. Maharashtra on fees. The Court-directed guidelines on facilities, labs, salaries paid to lecturers, teaching and non-teaching staff, plans of the college should be considered in the finalizing the fee.
In view of the growing demand for courses like Artificial Intelligence (AI), which also have a strong impact on the technology sector, the Chief Minister wants engineering colleges in the Telangana state to adopt world-class standards. For this, the government is planning to create a new system so that colleges can move forward in a planned manner in consultation with the government to meet the changing market needs. In this process, engineering colleges across the state are expected to have better facilities, appropriate teaching staff, labs, etc. in line with AICTE guidelines and the government will consider these parameters for determining the fee structure.
