Students and members of the faculty took to Twitter to voice strong criticism after the Lahore University of Management Sciences (Lums) announced what according to some is a more than 40 per cent hike in its per semester fees.

While calling upon the varsity to reverse its decision, netizens especially criticised Lums for announcing the fee increase at a time when many families are already struggling from the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.

The social media storm resulted in the university issuing a statement on its official Twitter account on Tuesday, in which it said the fees for the 2020 academic year were determined before the Covid-19 outbreak and that the hike "is entirely consistent with prior years and took into account extraordinary increases in inflation, energy costs and currency devaluation".

It claimed that the fee increase determined for 2020 was 13pc "which we will monitor in determining the next fee card".

The statement explained that previously, a per semester blanket fee was being charged for students taking between 12 to 20 credit hours and that this fee is now calculated on a per credit hour basis "which will increase the semester fees for some and decrease it for others".

But students pointed out that instead of calculating the value of each credit hour using the maximum limit of credit hours (20) that students can enrol in each semester, the varsity did so using the lower bound of credit hours (12).

This is problematic for many because they claim that the undergraduate degree programme is structured in a way that promotes "a policy of students requiring enrollment in at least 16 credit hours each semester" to graduate on time.

As a result, the new per semester tuition fee comes out at Rs482,000 for students taking 20 credit hours, a 41.7pc increase over the existing fee of Rs340,200 for 20 credit hours. But for students taking on 16 credit hours in a semester, the fee rise would amount to 13.3pc – as suggested by the university in its statement.

Lums in its statement also maintained that "the important point is that the total fee to meet graduation requirements does not change as a result of the shift to a per credit hour basis."

It said one of the reasons behind the shift to the new calculation model is "to discourage students from taking course overloads which negatively impacts their learning".

"Right in the middle of a pandemic and an economic recession, [Lums] increased the tuition fee by over 40%," wrote a Twitter user.

Dr Nida Kirmani, Associate Professor of Sociology at Lums, tweeted that "Universities cannot make students whose families are already struggling pay for the financial losses they may be facing."

"A per credit hour fee puts poorer students (especially those receiving some kind of aid) at significant disadvantage. You're effectively disincentivising learning in your quest to monetise individual courses. Reverse this decision immediately!" wrote Faizaan Qayyum, an alumnus of the varsity.

Umair Javed, another associate professor at Lums, said: "The fact that a university can even consider a fee increase (of any magnitude) during these extremely uncertain times is absolutely ludicrous."

A student criticised the university for allegedly not involving students in the decision-making process while shifting to the new fee calculation system.