Agreement arrived between govt, colleges not to hike fees of engineering courses in private colleges: Karnataka Minister

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], September 30 (ANI): A consensual agreement has been arrived between the government and private colleges not to hike the fees of engineering courses in private colleges, said Dr C.N. Ashwatha Narayana, the Minister of Higher Education, on Wednesday.
This decision was taken in a meeting held with the private college representatives at Vikasa Soudha.
"The fees for the engineering courses in private colleges for students who secure admission this year under government quota will continue as earlier in two different slabs of Rs 65,340 and Rs 58,806", the Minister told.
"The other important decision that has been drawn in the meeting is, maximum cap of Rs 20,000 each has been fixed for fees collected in the form of 'miscellaneous fees' and 'skill fees'. This decision has been taken as per the recommendations of a committee headed by Prof. Karisiddappa, Vice-Chancellor of Vishwesharaiah Technical University (VTU)", Naranaya said.
The Minister further explained, "The other major decision that arrived is, starting from this year the admission fees, miscellaneous fees and skill fees should not be remitted at colleges. Now, these should be remitted at Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA). Earlier 'miscellaneous fees' used to vary from college to college starting from Rs 10,000 to up to Rs 70,000. But, now this should not exceed Rs 20,000. Before prescribing the 'miscellaneous fees, colleges should notify the purposes for which this is being collected. The same information needs to be provided to KEA, Department of Technical Education, and VTU, besides being published on the website. This also should be remitted with KEA."
Earlier there was a provision to pay admission fees at colleges. However, from now onwards this also should be paid at KEA. He added this decision has been taken to eliminate the confusions that existed.
Some colleges also used to collect 'Skill Fees' for providing additional skill training to increase the employability of students. This was optional and the fees for this used to vary from college to college. Now, this is also been capped at a maximum of Rs 20,000. This will have 3 slabs of Rs 10,000, Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000. A team of VTU will inspect the colleges and fix any one of these depending upon the standard of training facilities and quality which also should be remitted to KEA, he said.
While the private colleges had pressed to increase the fee by 30 per cent, the committee headed by Prof. Karisiddappa had recommended a hike of 15 per cent-25 per cent. However, in view of the COVID-19 situation, representatives of private colleges were convinced not to go for a hike, the Minister informed.
Teaching engineering in Kannada will begin in 4 colleges from the current year itself. Bheemanna Khandre Institute of Technology, Bhalki (Civil), BLDAE VP Dr P.G.Halakatti College of Engineering, Vijayapura (Civil). SJC Institute of Technology, Chikkaballapura (Mechanical), and Maharaja Institute of Technology, Mysuru (Mechanical) will start teaching in Kannada, he said.
Manjunatha Bhandari, Chairperson, technical committee, KUPECA, Chandrashekhara Raju, Ramesh Raju (Representatives of Private Colleges), Kumar Naik, ACS, Department of Higher Education, P. Pradeep, Commissioner, Department of Collegiate Education, Ganesh Karnik, and others were also present. (ANI)