Colleges ask KU to stop charging big bucks for affiliation

University says they would give colleges a concession if they wrote an application.

KARACHI:

In a strongly worded letter, the Sindh education department has told the University of Karachi that it was being unjust and closing the doors to education for students over affiliation fees.

The department and university are currently at odds over the fee imposed on government degree colleges since March 2011. While talking to The Express Tribune, the director-general of colleges in Sindh, Dr Nasir Ansar, said that he had asked KU’s new vice chancellor Dr Mohammad Qaiser to stop charging such exorbitant amounts of money. “The department has initiated a dialogue with the university,” he said. “We will pressure them and save the future of our college students.”

Last year, the university doubled the affiliation fees from Rs52,500 to a minimum of Rs95,000. Now, the university asks for Rs15,000 to process the application, then another Rs30,000 to inspect degree programmes for a maximum of 30 seats in the BA programmes (Arts, Commerce or Science). To seal the deal, the college has to pay the university Rs50,000 per degree programme. In order to renew the affiliation, the college has to pay Rs50,000 per degree programme every year.

According to KU’s affiliation committee secretary Prof. Dr Mansoor Ahmed, the university was facing a financial crisis because of the budget cuts and was trying to generate funds. “The university will not ask any college for an affiliation,” he said. “The colleges send requests to the university so they have to follow our rules and regulations.” Ahmed added that this was the university’s prerogative as per the statutes passed by the provincial and national assembly under the University Act of 1972.

While talking to The Express Tribune about the affiliation fees, he said that the university could give them a concession. “I have asked the government colleges over and over again to submit an application which says that they cannot pay the fees,” he said. “At present, private universities can charge between Rs300,000 to half a million rupees for affiliation.”

According to Dr Ansar, a public-sector university should not be asking for so much money considering the education department’s tight budget. He said that since colleges cannot pay so much money, the only way to resolve the issue was to drop the charges. He added that to make it fair, the university could conduct examinations for students who had paid the examination fees and were enrolled at the affiliated colleges.

With reference to the examinations and limited seats, Dr Ansar said that the university had fixed a number of 30 seats per college and if the college wanted to increase them they had to pay Rs2,000 extra. “It is our responsibility to educate the students,” he said. “If the colleges have space, then the university should let the colleges enrol as many students they want.”

The president of the Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association, Prof. Athar Hussain Mirza, said that Ansar’s letter to KU shows that the colleges were facing trouble. He added that the education department, which does not allocate a budget for college affiliation should discuss the issue with the university and resolve it.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 28^th, 2012.