Mumbai: As the prestigious Sir JJ School of Art and two of its sister institutes start the next academic year 2024-25 in their new avatar as a de novo deemed university, fees of both undergraduate and post-graduation programmes have been increased to some extent.
According to the new fee structure, the Bachelor of Fine Art (BFA) will now cost Rs 10,000 annually, a 33% surge from Rs 7,500 charged until this year. Similarly, the annual fee of Master of Fine Art (MFA) course has risen 7% from Rs 30,000 to Rs 32,000.
Considering that an earlier task force had suggested up to 2,500% hike in the tuition fees at the premier institute post de novo status, the budding artists will be relieved by the relatively smaller surge. The fee at the government-run institute is still significantly affordable than private colleges in the state that charge anywhere between Rs 30,000 to Rs 1.85 lakh per annum for a BFA course.
The iconic art institute and two of its sister colleges – Sir JJ Institute of Applied Art and Sir JJ College of Architecture – were merged into a deemed university named Sir JJ School of Art, Architecture and Design under 'de novo' category, which is awarded to institutions devoted to innovations in teaching and research in unique and emerging areas of knowledge. The new university will be functional from the academic year 2024-25, with the admission process for the master’s programmes already underway.
The new fee structure was calculated by a seven-member panel headed by former Bombay High Court judge MN Gilani. “This is a marginal increase. The new fees has been arrived at after considering the financial aid expected from the state,” said Rajanish Kamat, acting vice chancellor of the university.
FPJ had previously reported that the task force appointed by the state government to comply with the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) conditions for the JJ institutes to be transformed into a deemed university has suggested increasing the annual fees from Rs 7,500 to Rs 2 lakh for undergraduate (UG) courses and Rs 30,000 to Rs 3 lakh for post-graduation (PG) courses. That’s an over 26-fold (2,500%) hike for UG programmes and 10-fold (900%) increase for PG courses.
The fee hike was among several other proposals mentioned in the task force’s detailed project report (DPR) that are aimed at shoring up revenue for the proposed university and achieve financial autonomy. The panel had also talked about introducing a quota for non-resident Indians and persons of Indian origin (PIO) students with enhanced fees.
International students and PIOs will have to shell out more than Indian students. The cost for both BFA and MFA for them has been fixed at 3,000 US Dollars and Rs 13,500 per annum. The children of Indian workers in Gulf countries will have to pay USD 2,000 and Rs 4,000 per year.
