Principal John Varghese says that it will have to self-finance new courses under the new model
Amidst the growing confusion over funding education institutions which are getting more autonomy, St Stephens College has hinted that students will have to bear the additional burden if the institution becomes autonomous.
The institution does not have any other plan if and when the college goes on a “self-financing mode” apart from changing the fee structure.
The college has recently, in a meeting of its Governing Body, decided to apply for autonomous status with the University Grants Commission (UGC). In case the college gets more autonomy, it will function on a “self-financing mode”.
St Stephens is already independent of Delhi University in terms of the admission process, among others. Their fee structure, however, is still the same as the other Delhi University colleges. But, if it gets more autonomy, the college will be able to hike the fee on their own.
Talking about the institution’s roadmap to autonomy, John Varghese, Principal of St Stephen’s College said, “If we get autonomy, the new courses that we start will have to be self-financed. In that case, the fee structure will also change.
“If it is a Social Science course then the fees may not be much but if it is a Science course, the fees will be more because the college will have to manage labs and research also.”
“Depending on what kind of courses we offer, funding will be done. We do not have a plan as of now. However, the existing courses will continue to be funded by UGC,” he said.
Changing the fee structure is exactly what is being opposed by the teacher fraternity inside and outside St Stephen’s College when they opposed the idea of the college asking for more autonomy.
As per the UGC guidelines, once a college becomes autonomous, the Commission will provide assistance to fulfil their additional and special needs including seminars, office and library equipment and renovation not leading to construction of a new building among other things. The guidelines clearly state that the autonomy grant cannot be used for payment of salary to college staff or to meet normal college contingency requirement. In such a case, most institutions have no option but to hike the fees.
With the Central Government encouraging more and more educational institutions to apply for autonomy, many Delhi University colleges had approached the higher authorities in the varsity to push for their autonomy case, but the university is currently keen only on pushing St Stephen’s case.
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