By: Hardik Anand
CHANDIGARH: The foreign nationals and non-resident Indians (NRIs) wanting to enrol themselves at
Panjab University
(PU) will have to pay up to 20 times higher fee than their Indian counterparts.
The foreign nationals pay tuition fee, along with development charges, to PU in US dollars. Facing funds crunch, PU has increased the seats for foreign nationals and non-resident Indians from 10% to 15% in all courses from this session. It has also extended the deadline to apply under the quota to July 22 from July 10.
The university will not only admit NRI
students, but also those candidates who have any first-degree NRI relative
Under the NRI quota, the university will not only admit NRI students, but also those candidates who have any first-degree NRI relative in their family. The relatives include maternal and paternal grandparents, uncles and aunts, and also cousins. The adopted and foster children of the NRIs can also apply.
Once admitted under the NRI quota, a student will have to pay the applicable fee for the entire course and will not be able to change his/her category while pursuing any other course at the university in future. The move indicates university trying to generate revenues through the high fee from NRI and foreign students.
At
UBS
, the fee of a student taking admission under foreign national or NRI quota would be 7,500 US dollars (approx. Rs 5.15 lakh) for two years, compared to Rs 38,000 for an Indian national. Similarly, for MA in mass communication, an NRI candidate would have to pay 4,275 US dollars (approx. Rs 3 lakh) per annum compared to Rs 18,000 for an Indian student.
The university accepts candidates in NRI and foreign quota in three ways: through scholarships sponsored by various programs of the Indian government, through foreign students self-financing their education and through NRI students or wards of NRIs who sponsor them with a certificate. This year, the university has offered 220 seats to foreign nationals and NRIs. So far, 31 students have enrolled themselves through a scholarship scheme of the Indian government while more applications are being processed.