Three Engineering Colleges Charging Extra Fee by AICTE

Coimbatore: Of the 33 self-financing engineering colleges that have been asked for clarification with regard to their fee structure by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), three come under the aegis of the Anna University, Coimbatore. ‘Surprise inspections’ had been undertaken by the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) at the beginning of the academic year to check for anomalies in the fee structure. Following this, colleges in the Coimbatore region too had come under the scanner. Now, three of them have been asked to furnish fee details. The team had checked the tuition fee receipts of second, third and final year students belonging to different streams. According to the National Board of Accreditation of the AICTE, colleges should only charge Rs. 32,500 for a non-accredited course and Rs. 40,000 for an accredited course. Out of these three colleges, two are charging Rs. 40,000 as against Rs. 32,500, while the third is charging Rs. 90,000.

The State Government has now asked them to explain the reason for the variation in fee. When contacted by The Hindu, Vice-Chancellor of Anna University, Coimbatore, R. Radhakrishnan, said it was possible for the colleges to come up with any number of explanations. However, he felt it would be prudent to go in for a permanent solution.

“The fee collection should be centralised. The university, instead of the colleges, should collect the fee. It should work as the admitting agency. This will help keep a check. Once the university collects the fee, it can transfer the amount to the concerned college within a month,” he added.

He recommended operating a common account which the university and the college could make use of to avoid anomalies and misuse. “This can be started with the first year and can then be extended to the other years’ fee collection too.”

With reference to the present situation, he said it was up to the Government and the AICTE to sort out the problems, since it had nothing to do with the university.

Three Engineering Colleges Charging Extra Fee by AICTE

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