New Delhi: The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration has raised the institution’s fee, more than double of the existing fee, for prospective students set to join in the academic year 2020-21.
These increases in fee come at a time when the institution is already embroiled in student protests against fee hike. JNU has also increased its one-time medical fee from a mere Rs 9 to Rs 1,000.
The fee for the MPhil and Ph.D. programmes, which was Rs 295 per semester till this year, has been increased to Rs 780 per semester. In the same vein, the fee for undergraduate and postgraduate students has also been raised from Rs 283 per semester in academic year 2019-2020 to Rs 768 per semester academic year 2020-21. GST is not included in these figures, reports businesstoday.in.
The JNU Student Union (JNUSU) has been fighting a case in the Delhi High Court over the hostel fee hike by the administration in 2019. JNUSU had taken the step of going to the courts after months of protests both in and outside the university. The Ministry of Human Resource Development was forced to intervene and hold meetings with the students to negotiate.
About the fee hike, JNUSU President Aishe Ghosh has said, “This will be fought again. The JNU community needs to unite to stop this.” Till now, Dean of Admissions Deepak Gaur and Registrar Pramod Kumar have not made any statements regarding the fee hike.