IITs, NITs asked not to hike fee this year (Representational image)

There will be no increase in tuition fees for the upcoming academic year at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal announced today. If implemented, this would be applicable to all courses, which includes the MTech programmes. Last year, IITs had announced a hike in fees for MTech courses which led to protests.

During a live interaction with students today, the HRD Minister said, “Even though IITs and NITs are autonomous and financially self-regulatory institutes, we still had requested them to not take up the annual fee hike for this year considering the coronavirus pandemic. I had asked chairpersons to convey this to all the institute heads and directors and hope that this sentiment would be respected.”

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IITs had decided to hike fees for new MTech students from an average of Rs 30,000 a year to Rs 2 lakh per annum. The IITs had cited that the fee increase would mean that non-serious candidates would not take up this course. This was decided as every year at least 15 per cent seats across IITs go vacant as students drop out of the college on getting a job in PSUs. Both IITs and PSUs enroll students based on the GATE score.

This decision, however, was deferred to be discussed in the next council meet. If IITs decide to consider the HRD Minister’s request they would not be able to hike fee for GATE or any other subject this year as well.

For students aspiring to take admission in IITs, the HRD Minister had announced new exam dates for 2020 session. The JEE Main will be held between July 19 and 23 and the dates for JEE Advanced will be decided later. Only the top 2.5 lakh of JEE Main are eligible to appear for JEE Advanced. For JEE Main 2021 session, it is likely that the syllabus for the entrance exam will be reduced.