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Delhi University to increase the annual development fee

As the capital grants are reduced by the UGC, the Delhi University has decided to increase the university development fee charged annually from the students which will lead to a hike in the fee of the students. 

At present, the university is charging Rs. 600 per student per year as a university development fee for various activities such as the construction of new buildings, buying of new laboratory equipment, etc.

The UDF amount will be revised and Rs. 900 will be collected per student per year from the coming academic session due to requirement of funds, reduction of capital grants by the UGC, government mandate for self-sufficiency and creation of ICT enabled infrastructure.  

The recommendations were accepted by the Executive Council as the committee comprising the former pro-vice-chancellor and registrar stated that UGC was not releasing sufficient funds for the last three to four years and only Rs. 1.25 crore has been allotted this year.

This small amount is not sufficient to buy a single piece of equipment for laboratories and the departments are regularly in need of funds for replacement or purchase of new equipment and other research activities.  

After extensive deliberations, the committee approved for an amount of Rs. 52 crores for the purchase and replacement of laboratory equipment after the exhaustion of all available resources.

The funds collected earlier from the students were considered as emergency funds and now, forcing the University to draw UDF for infrastructure and other activities will cause difficulties for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes.

Also, at this point, many of the insiders in the committee condemned the decision of fee hike stating that many institutions are not increasing fees due to Covid-19 and even if the fee increase is minimal, it is not the right thing. 

However, as the University is planning to start new courses and new departments, funds have become necessary and there is no other way to generate funds other than a hike in UDF.

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