KP universities hike fees to meet expenses

The public sector universities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have revised the fee structure under different heads and made a substantial increase in the fees to meet the expenses.

According to officials, Islamia College University (ICU), Peshawar University, Agriculture University Peshawar and Khyber Medical University (KMU) had increased fees under different heads.

An official document of ICU revealed that the varsity administration had increased the hostel fee to Rs3,000 while the fee for pre-medical open merit had been fixed at Rs45,465. Similarly, the KMU had also notified an increase in examination fees.

It is pertinent to mention here that the public sector universities in the province were facing a critical financial crisis and the four major universities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including Islamia College University (ICU), Peshawar University, Agriculture University Peshawar had recently written a letter to the Chief Minister KP regarding the issue.

The Universities’ administrations informed that they could not even give a 35 percent and 17 percent raise in the salaries and pensions respectively as announced by the government in the financial budget 2023.

It said that HEC had informed the varsities’ administrations that instead of increasing the salaries, there would be a slight reduction in the universities’ budget.

The letter said that salaries and pensions were increased in other provinces and by the federal institutions but the KP universities were being treated discriminately.

According to official sources, the Agricultural University Peshawar was currently facing a deficit of Rs1 billion, the University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Rs616 million, Peshawar University 1.413 billion and Islamia College Rs81.7 million.