IIM-C reverts to old fees

The Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, (IIM-C) board yesterday decided to maintain the earlier fee structure and offer need-based scholarships to students.

The board of governors had unanimously decided to revert the earlier decision to reduce the fee from Rs 1.25 lakh to Rs 30,000 and to offer 'need-based scholarships' to students, IIM-C Chairman YC Deveshwar told the media after the board meeting.

The board decided that students, whose annual gross family incomes were Rs 2 lakh and below, would be eligible to receive financial assistance amounting to less than or equal to a full tuition fee waiver. Deserving students will also be eligible to receive financial assistance beyond a full tuition fee waiver.

Deveshwar also said the proposal of a uniform fee structure among the IIMs was discussed and IIM-C was likely to follow it. The financial assistance scheme would be available to both first and final-year students.

On March 26, the board had decided to cut fees and subsequently a resolution was drafted by Deveshwar and circulated to other stakeholders.

The faculty, however, had questioned the legality of the March 26 board meeting as the earlier directors had not been appointed in consultation with the state government.

However, the government recently appointed six members on the board of IIM-C.

Later in the day, IIM-C Director Shekhar Chaudhuri corroborated the institute's stand on fees.

The IIM-C faculty welcomed yesterday's board decision. Ashish Bhattacharya, spokesman for the IIM-C Faculty Council, said the decision to keep unchanged the fees for the new academic year was a sensible one.

"The move to broadbase the scholarships takes care of societal needs and we hope we should be able to formulate scholarships for really needy students," said Bhattacharya.