Government unlikely to clear fee hike proposed by Anna University

After a gap of several years, the State-owned Anna University was all set to increase the tuition fees by about 10% for its 13 constituent colleges in the first phase and as well as for its 500 affiliated institutions across Tamil Nadu in the second phase from the coming academic year.

The proposal to increase the tuition fees especially for constituent colleges was decided in the meeting of the university’s syndicate, the highest decision taking body of the institution.

Accordingly, newly admitted aspirants pursuing various BE and B Tech courses this year would have had to pay an additional amount of around Rs 10,000 per semester.

However, the decision of Anna University to increase tuition fees triggered criticism from various quarters including the political leaders of the State.

A senior official from Directorate of Higher Education told DT Next on Friday that the government has decided to cancel the proposed fees hike by the university against the backdrop of several requests from the academicians and stakeholders.

“Despite the decision to make the university’s syndicate resolution to increase the fees as null and void, a formal order will be issued in this regard shortly,” the official said.

The official said that all the students who are seeking admission for various courses would have to pay the sum as per the existing fees structure.

A senior administration staff from Anna University pointed out that the institution is state-owned and the decision to increase the fees was made only the Higher Education Department. “The decision was taken only by government following the request of the constituent colleges and the university has nothing to do with it,” he added.