IIT-Delhi Director V Ramgopal Rao has termed the recent hike in M Tech course fee a “surgical strike” on “uninterested” students. According to him the IIT Council’s decision to hike the fee for M Tech programmes will fix the problem of wastage of seats at the Indian Institutes of Technology.
“The freebies we have been doling out with taxpayers’ money to students who are uninterested and into systems which have become unaccountable need to stop at some point,” he said.
“Many students take admission into the M.Tech programmes and over 50 per cent of them quit as soon as they find a job,” the director added.
Over 50 per cent dropouts in masters programmes today in IITs only means that students value the jobs they get after their B.Tech more than the career they can build with their M.Tech degrees. How can we spend taxpayers money to offer free education to them, when they themselves see no value in such an education?, he said
“And obviously, a surgical strike was needed. I am happy that the Ministry and the Council took such a bold decision,” he added.
The IIT Council led by Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ on Friday approved a proposal to hike the fee of the master’s programme.
“The committee had recommended a proactive increase in the MTech fee and bringing it at least to the level of BTech fee (Rs 2 lakh per year) over the next three years. Simultaneously the needy students will be supported directly by the government through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) or arranging educational loans,” a senior HRD Ministry official was quoted in a PTI report.
