Tuition fees of B.Tech, M.Tech and MCA programmes in National Institutes of Technology (NITs) would be doubled from the next academic session to Rs 70,000.
The NIT council which met here on Friday, however, decided not to hike the fees for SC and ST students, informed sources said.
The decision was in line with the recommendation of a standing committee under the NIT council which had suggested steep hike of tuition fees from the next academic session, they said.
The council meeting was chaired by Higher Education Secretary Ashok Thakur in the absence of HRD Minister M M Pallam Raju, who skipped it.
Raju has not attended any ministry programmes or meet ever since he submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh protesting the creation of Telangana.
The IITs had earlier this year also effected a steep hike in tuition fees for undergraduate programme from Rs 50,000 to Rs 90,000.
Today's meeting also deliberated upon suggestions of the Kakodkar committee on reforms in NITs where a number of NIT directors were in favour of further fine-tuning of the recommendations, sources said.
The suggestions include pairing of NITs to IITs, institutional reviews and greater financial autonomy. While the council agreed the NIT system needs to be revamped, emphasis was laid on development of curriculum and greater industry-institute interface for R&D.
Focus was also laid on transparency and accountability in the NIT system, with the council deciding to set up a committee to prepare a road-map in this regard, sources said.
They said the new NITs were vocal about the issue of land, fearing that any delay in acquiring them could pose big challenge for these institutes. Holding that NIT Goa and NIT Sikkim were the worst hit because of the land problem, sources said, the matter could be raised when President Pranab Mukherjee reviews the NITs at a two-day conference on November 7 and 8.
There are at present 30 NITs in the country, of which 10 have been set up in recent years.
The NIT council which met here on Friday, however, decided not to hike the fees for SC and ST students, informed sources said.
The decision was in line with the recommendation of a standing committee under the NIT council which had suggested steep hike of tuition fees from the next academic session, they said.
The council meeting was chaired by Higher Education Secretary Ashok Thakur in the absence of HRD Minister M M Pallam Raju, who skipped it.
Raju has not attended any ministry programmes or meet ever since he submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh protesting the creation of Telangana.
The IITs had earlier this year also effected a steep hike in tuition fees for undergraduate programme from Rs 50,000 to Rs 90,000.
Today's meeting also deliberated upon suggestions of the Kakodkar committee on reforms in NITs where a number of NIT directors were in favour of further fine-tuning of the recommendations, sources said.
The suggestions include pairing of NITs to IITs, institutional reviews and greater financial autonomy. While the council agreed the NIT system needs to be revamped, emphasis was laid on development of curriculum and greater industry-institute interface for R&D.
Focus was also laid on transparency and accountability in the NIT system, with the council deciding to set up a committee to prepare a road-map in this regard, sources said.
They said the new NITs were vocal about the issue of land, fearing that any delay in acquiring them could pose big challenge for these institutes. Holding that NIT Goa and NIT Sikkim were the worst hit because of the land problem, sources said, the matter could be raised when President Pranab Mukherjee reviews the NITs at a two-day conference on November 7 and 8.
There are at present 30 NITs in the country, of which 10 have been set up in recent years.
