Cap on fees

Updated on: Thursday, October 14, 2010

With the fees for a two-year programme at IIM-Calcutta standing at Rs 13.5 lakh, its director wondered just how much more they could charge and whether it was justified to depend on students’ fees to finance the institute’s expansion plans.

Speaking at the Higher Education Meet 2010 — Globalisation and Management Education: Expansion, Excellence and Inclusion, organised by CII recently IIM-C director Shekhar Chaudhuri also pointed out the significant reduction in the number of CAT applications, including those for IIM-C, this year.

“We can’t just go on increasing the fees. Can we go up to Rs 20 lakh or 30 lakh? There must be a limit. A balance has to be achieved. We cannot depend on students’ fees to finance new expansions,” said Chaudhuri, quickly adding that this was his personal opinion, which he had earlier raised at a board meeting and would do so again in the upcoming meeting in December.

“If the industry is going to be the beneficiary, then industry and management institutions have to come together. It will help if the industry can create grants, against which it, too, can get some benefits,” he said on the sidelines of the programme.

Chaudhuri did not overlook the fact that there might be problems if students did not join the industry after some jobs had been reserved against grants. “The idea is that such possibilities need to be discussed instead of depending on the traditional sources of funds, like students’ fees,” he added.

Drawing attention to the lesser number of CAT applications this year as compared to 2009, he said, “The exact reason is not known. We have to find that out.”

Alluding to the many objectives that the institute hoped to achieve, the director also spoke of their attempts in the past to rope in faculty members from abroad. “It has not worked, as the salary offered abroad is much better. We had even thought of offering foreign teachers $50,000 to $60,000 on contract, but many felt it might appear discriminatory,” Chaudhuri said.

Cap on fees

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