IBNLive Chat: IITs, IIMs should help needy students

DOORS BEING SHUT? After the IIMs hiking tuition fees, IITs, too, are planning to hike their fees.

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Keywords: Fee Hike, IIM

Prasad: Sir, don't you think Rs 50,000 is affordable now a days when students are willing to spend almost half of it per annum for intermediate courses?

PV Indiresan: It depends on what your parents have!

Mukesh Bharti: Fee hike is justified. In the era of talent shortage to retain quality faculty member it is need of the hour but at the same time we should think about some alternatives how to enable any underprivileged meritorious students. Can we think of government guarantee for the education loan to IIT students or some interest subvention in the education loan availed by IIT students unlike a practice in US educational system?

PV Indiresan: You are right. IITs and IIMs should bring in adequate measures to help needy students.

Bony De Kumar: Dear sir, after being in IIT system for so long I hope you will agree me that IIT is just an engineering college and involved in engineering and technology education. If we compare research output, it is far behind all top technology institution like CALTECH, MIT, AT &M and many others. As being associate with this system is it possible for you to pin point any big technological breakthrough that came from IIT? I hope your answer will be definitely a big 'No'. Entrance examination system provides best student and hence they get best jobs. So in this scenario do you really feel that a ordinary engineering college like IIT should charge extra ordinary fees from student?

PV Indiresan: If you are correct and IITs are no better than just any other engineering college, why are you bothered by the fee hike? Why don't you go to "any other engineering college" that charges less? IITs are not good at publicity but they have contributed quite a lot - otherwise industry will not be paying consultancy fees of several crores every year. I myself pioneered a couple of innovations in defence electronics and in railways. This is not the time to talk about it but please do not be contemptuous.

Dinesh Bhatia: What impact would the fee hike have on the students coming from lower middle class families?

PV Indiresan: Unless they are given sufficient scholarships or affordable loan assistance they will truly suffer. The flaw in the announcement is that the institutions have not made clear how they will help good but needy students.

Ankit Bhatla: The government is planning to setup new IITs (around eight more). Is this justified given the financial crunch being faced by the IITs. Shouldn't the government improve the already existing IITs infrastructure wise and bring them on par with the institutions in US, UK etc? Much less money would be spent on increasing the seats rather than creating new IITs. The saved money can be used to help the needy pay the fees.

PV Indiresan: I could not agree with you more. Please tell Mr Arjun Singh.

Namit Jain: I am totally in favour of the fee hike but I would like to know will this money go into faculty salaries only? What about improving R&D in these institutes?

PV Indiresan: You are correct. We are not doing well on the R&D front. Unfortunately, fee hike will not help in that direction. R&D needs massive - 10-100 times larger inputs and that should come from industry and from government agencies too the way they are in other countries including China