Private varsities wait for Parliament fiat on quota issue

Confusion over implementing quotas (SC/ST and OBC) in private unaided deemed universities continues to prevail. While Birla Institute of Techology and Science (BITS) Pilani has flatly refused to implement quotas, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) and Symbiosis International Education Centre are awaiting a decision from the group of ministers (GoM) who will be discussing the issue in the winter session of Parliament. If the Bill is passed, the Universties Grants Commission will decide on financial allocation to the institutes.

Meanwhile, these institutions will have to increase the number of seats in keeping with the scheme worked out for government institutions (proposed 54 per cent hike) to ensure that general category students don't suffer. Toward this end, besides ramping up infrastructure, they plan to recruit faculty in huge numbers with the faculty-student ratio being 1:40 at many universities.

The main issue, though, is getting funds to implement the quota since these deemed universities are unaided. They depend on tuition fees from students to meet their recurring expenditures, and hence have suggested that the ministry should allow them to charge fees on the basis of cost per student to the institute plus 20 per cent cost for future development of the institutes. For instance, if the fees are Rs 1 lakh, a management student will have to pay Rs 1.20 lakh if the suggestion is accepted.

"We have reached a consensus on implementing the quota but since we are all self-financing universities, we have given suggestions for cost-effective implementation of the quota to the HRD ministry which will be discussed with a GoM comprising finance minister officials and external ministry officials and submitted in the winter session of Parliament," said a MAHE official.

Besides, the increase in seats, private deemed universities hope to be compensated by a higher fee structure for the 15 per cent NRI quota. MAHE, for instance, has 2,100 NRI students studying professional courses at its campus in Manipal and Mangalore. The institute charges high fees from the NRI students to cross-subsidise Indian students and also to facilitate forex earnings. For a course in medicine, for instance, an NRI students pays $20000 (Rs 8,98,499 lakh) as compared to Rs 3,15,000 lakh for an Indian student.

MAHE has a waiting list of 200 NRI students who wish to take up a course in medicine with the institute.

However, the total number of Indian students at MAHE's campuses is 14,500 and if the quota is implemented, the number of seats will have to be increased by 7,830 "� a 54 per cent increase.

As for the Symbiosis International Education Centre, it is yet to work out the modalities to implement the quota and maintains that reservation is not new to it. The institute has around 20,000 students and the insitutes which are affiliated to Pune University reserve 50 per cent seats for SC/ST and OBC students. Symbiosis has aquired 300 acres of land near Pune to extend its campus and will accomodate the changes on thiscampus.

BITS Pilani, on the other hand, has denied it has agreed to reservation system. In fact, it did not attend the meeting convened by the HRD ministry on October 26 but has submitted a note to the ministry saying merit must be the only criteria for admissions to ensure homogenous input into the higher education system. Special coaching should be given to candidates of weaker sections to compete with other students.