IIM-A defends fee hike, reiterates social commitment

Ahmedabad, Apr 3 (UNI) Defending the fee hike of a whopping 250 per cent for its post-graduate programmes (PGP), IIM-A Director Dr Sameer Barua today said it was an ''innovative formula''.

He said through this, those who are capable of paying the full costs of the programme would be charged, while providing assistance of about Rs 8.5 crore per annum to those who may find it difficult to meet the costs.

In June last year, IIM-A board had decided to conduct a rigorous costing exercise with the help of independent experts to determine the true cost of the PGP. Based upon the findings of the exercise, the institute had decided to charge a fee of Rs 5.50 lakh for the first year and a fee of Rs 6 lakh for the second year of the two year post-graduate programme for the 2008-10 batch. Out of this, the cost for tuition fee was Rs 4.50 lakh and the rest was for books, cases, teaching material, stay and library.

Dr Barua said no deserving student would be deprived of an opportunity to study at IIM-A on account of lack of financial resources. The board has, therefore, decided to triple the annual family income limit from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 6 lakh for a student to be eligible for financial suport. The board has also directed the institute to formulate a graded, need-based, financial aid scheme for students eligible for financial support.

The board has chalked out scheme whereby graded waiver of tuition fee will be provided to all students with annual income of up to Rs 6 lakh. The waiver is 100 per cent for students with annual income of up to Rs 1 lakh. It is about 82 per cent of the annual family income of Rs 2 lakh, he informed.

Dr Barua said the institute would negotiate with leading banks for special loan packages to be provided to students who are admitted to the PGP on favourable terms.

The proposal would allow the institute to channelise the resources generated from executive education and other activities to fund the growth of its academic programmes and research, he added.

UNI HT SSS SKB LS RN2136