By IANS
New Delhi : Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia Wednesday justified the fee hike announced by some of the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and sought easy loans for students to pursue professional and technical studies.
“The students of the management institutes are going to earn much more than the fees they pay. To ensure that none of them misses an opportunity to enter a top management or technical institute, the government should make loans available to them,” Ahluwalia said Tuesday.
“The decision of some IIMs to increase fee is not a wrong move,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a function where the plan panel’s report on the High Level Group on Services Sector (HLGSS) was released.
“The government should not subsidise higher education beyond a point. If a student is going to earn high after completing a course, he does not need subsidised education. He needs loans, which he will easily pay back after finishing his studies.”
The IIM-Ahmedabad Saturday announced hike in its fee from Rs.450,000 to Rs.1.15 million for the two-year post-graduate programme while the IIM-Kozhikode Monday increased the fee from Rs.385,000 to Rs.600,000.
The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are also expected to hike their fees soon to meet their fund requirements.
The fees at the seven IITs, currently Rs.25,000 a year or Rs.1,00,000 for the four-year engineering course, are expected to be doubled – that is, Rs.50,000 a year or Rs.200,000 for the four-year course, an official of the human resource development (HRD) ministry indicated.
Although the central government allocated more funds for higher education this year, the IITs have not been given additional funds to meet their requirements.