That’s according to the Chronicle of higher Education (pay site) today. Can you imagine this happening here?
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The government said on Thursday that annual tuition and living costs at the six Indian Institutes of Management were “exorbitant,” and it ordered the annual fees to be reduced to $660, from $3,320.
But administrators, students, and alumni have widely condemned the cuts, saying the loss of that revenue will hurt the quality of instruction and facilities at the institutes. …
The institutes are consistently ranked as the country’s top M.B.A. programs because they are partially self-sufficient in their finances and, more important, independent of the government. In part because they charge tuition, they can afford to hire top professors and offer their students first-class facilities — features that few of India’s inexpensive but cash-starved government universities can claim.
… The institutes are technically public institutions, but over the years they have developed into semiautonomous bodies that are administered by a board of governors. Tuition generates roughly half of their income. The rest of their revenue comes from business-consulting fees and the proceeds of their endowments. They take grants from the government when and if it suits them.
Critics of the cuts worry that the institutes will be forced to dilute their high standards. Students have told reporters and have commented on institute-related Web sites that they do not believe $3,320 for tuition and housing is an onerous burden. All students in the elite M.B.A. programs qualify for educational loans. And compared with private colleges, such as the Indian School of Business, which charges nearly $20,000, the institutes remain a bargain. …
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