IIM-A raises fees by Rs 50,000 from 2010-11

After more than doubling fees last year, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, (IIM-A) has raised fees for its Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGPM) by Rs 50,000 from 2010-11, institute director Samir Barua said here today. "Last year, we had decided that the fee for PGPM for 2008-09 would be Rs 5.5 lakh and for 2009-10 it would be Rs 6 lakh. The board today decided that the fee for 2009-10 for the incoming batch will stay the same. But for the second year, that is 2010-11, the fee will be Rs 6.5 lakh, an increase of Rs 50,000,” Barua said, after a meeting of IIM-A board of governors that was specially convened to discuss this issue. This means the 2009-11 PGPM batch will be paying Rs 12.5 lakh for the course, Rs 1 lakh more than the 2008-10 batch. The 2008-10 batch was required to pay Rs 5.5 lakh in the first year and Rs 6 lakh in the second year or Rs 11.5 lakh in total. Barua, however, added that the fee waiver scheme IIM-A had started last year would continue for the next year. "Last year, 21 students did not have to pay anything at all for the course," Barua said. Asked why fees were being raised, Barua said, "With the passage of time the cost of teaching goes up. We have to account for an increase in the cost of everything." Taking about average fee collection, Barua said it would go down considerably since the OBC (other backward class) quota, for which fees are subsidised, will be increased to 13 per cent this year from last year's six per cent.