DADU: Sindh University administration has reportedly passed on burden of its financial liabilities and debts to thousands of students by drastically hiking charges for various services by 30pc within a short span of two years.

The administration has increased fees for degrees, transcripts, date of declaration of results certificate, pass certificates, marks-sheets and other documents by 30pc -- after raising the same by 40pc to 400pc over past two years --, says a notification issued on Tuesday.

The decision would not only affect the university’s own students but also a large number of students enrolled in public and private colleges affiliated with the university.

The record increase in a short period had been made by vice-chancellor Dr Siddique Kalhoro on the recommendation of the academic council that met in November last year. However, the notification had reportedly been issued without approval of the syndicate, said sources.

The notification issued by registrar said the increase in fees had been made effective from Jan 2. The fees for the issuance of certain documents, which was a few hundred rupees, had increase threefold whereas charges previously within four-digit figures had now upped to five figures, resulting in a jump of several thousand rupees and unbearable burden on students, said the sources.

According to breakup, the fees for pass certificates and marks certificates have climbed from Rs500 to Rs650. Similarly, the fees for the issuance of transcripts, appearance certificates and medium of instruction certificates have gone up from Rs1,000 to Rs1,600.

The fee for date of declaration of results certificate has risen from Rs300 to Rs500, while convocation and gap certificate charges have been raised from Rs2,200 to Rs3,250 and Rs1,000 to Rs1,600, respectively.

Moreover, the fee for the issuance of degree has been raised from Rs3,750 to Rs4,900 and duplicate degree from Rs3,750 to Rs9,750, while fees for B.Ed. and M.Ed. degrees have hiked from Rs3,500 to Rs5,709 and B.Ed. and M.Ed. duplicate degree issuance charges have been raised from Rs6,000 to Rs9,750.

Charges for degrees of M.Phil, MS and Ph.D have been increased from Rs7,000 to Rs11,400 and Rs10,000 to Rs16,250, respectively. In addition, fees for re-totaling of marks, change of centre and correction of name have also been increased from Rs1,000 to Rs16,00, Rs16,250 and Rs 5,000, respectively.

Likewise, fees for the issuance of MBBS degree and its duplicate have also been increased from Rs6,000 to Rs9,750 and Rs8,000 to Rs13000, respectively, while charges for various other documents have also been raised manifold.

Justifying sudden and unprecedented increase in charges without approval of the syndicate, the university’s spokesman Nadir Ali Mugheri said the increase had been made after over two years.

He claimed that even after the fees raise by 30pc, the university’s fee was still much lower than the higher academic institutions like the University of Karachi, Shah Abdul Latif University and Hyderabad Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education.

He said the increase in fee was made by the academic council, while only vice-chancellor could not be blamed for it. The university was facing a financial deficit of Rs1 billion in current financial year alone, he said.

The spokesman said the university had over 1,800 pensioners and more than 3,000 employees, on whom Rs30 million were spent every month while the Higher Education Commission grant was just Rs1.77 billion in total.

Mr Mugheri said that the vice-chancellor had implemented various polices in a bid to cut down the departments’ expenditures. “The VC has got electric meters installed outside the quarters and bungalows in residential areas of the university so that the residents pay their bills as per their usage of power,” he said and added that petrol allowance of officers had already been rationalised while contingency bill of the VC’s office had been abolished.

“Now, if the VC wants to invite someone over for tea, they must be ready to foot the bill for it,” he said on a lighter vein.

Published in Dawn, january 4th, 2023