AMU hikes fees for foreign students, draws protests

For foreign students, taking admission in Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) is set to become costlier as the varsity has increased the fee for all its courses ranging from 6 to 54 per cent for the next academic session.

AMU has at least 800 international students on its rolls. "The hike is unreasonable and most of us cannot afford it," said A Urza, president of the International Students Association of AMU.

He said, "During the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us have not been able to go back home. And in such a situation, the administration's move to hike the fee is unreasonable. We come here only because the fee structure is reasonable. The university should reconsider this decision."

Under the new fee regime, the application fee for new international students has been hiked from $ 70 to $ 100 while the admission fees have been raised from 6 to 54 per cent depending on the course.

For the B.Tech course, the fee has been raised from $2600 to $4000 per annum.

For BA (Hons), it has been revised from $925 to $1200, besides an additional $500, which will be charged for two consecutive years.

AMU's examination controller Mujib Ullah Zuberi told reporters that the foreign students' fee hike was done after more than a decade.

"Even then, it is still less than what is being charged by JNU and Jamia Millia University. The decision was taken to 'rationalise' the fee structure as NRI students were paying more. Meanwhile, the representation given by the international students regarding the fee structure is under consideration and the administration will look into it," he added.

The move has upset the foreign students, as most of them come from war-torn countries like Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and Iraq, where the economy is already in a bad shape.