Four days after admission brochure was released for undergraduate courses which led to several protests due to the substantial fee hike in self-financed semester fee, Lucknow University vice chancellor Prof J P Saini in a press conference on Tuesday — his first after assuming charge — said there will be no rollback in the semester fee hike.
On the fee hike in self-financed courses, he said around 22.5% of the students belonging to SC and ST categories get a 100% refund of the fee. “27% of EWS category students get a scholarship up to ₹55,000 from the government. Until last year, a student opting for BA self-financed course used to pay for each subject they added, while they were only reimbursed the tuition fee,” the VC added.
According to him, for BA self-financed course, one has to pay ₹16,330 for whichever subject they choose and the same will be reimbursed. “The initiative has streamlined the fee for students allowing them to get maximum benefits of the scholarships,” he said.
Saini further said efforts are also being made to build an alumni network which can help students unable to pay their tuition fees. “The increased fee will be utilised to improve facilities, including renovation of washrooms and water coolers. We are also planning to build a learning management system with the help of computer science department where we will have an archive of video lectures from expert faculty,” the VC added.
Meanwhile, Lucknow University (LU) has decided to add 451 more seats to its existing 2,165 seats in various regular courses from the next academic session, vice chancellor said.
This is in addition to the decision taken earlier this month to increase over 3,100 self-financed seats ahead of 2026-27 session. The VC said the increased regular seats will function at the same fee that was decided for regular courses in 1995-96.
“While the fee of regular courses and the grant received by the university remain the same, the expenditure has increased several times. For example, affiliation and approval from the Bar Council of India now cost about ₹6 lakh per year,” Prof Saini added.
Additionally, LLB admissions will now be conducted through the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) and MBA admissions through the Common Admission Test (CAT), he added. “The university has formed a committee to reform the evaluation system. The committee will study the feasibility of implementing absolute and relative grading systems. The aim is to enhance academic fairness,” the VC said.
He said the university has launched 11 new undergraduate programmes, 10 postgraduate programmes and 22 minor degree options. Five co-curricular and professional courses have also been introduced.
He shared that all examinations will be conducted under camera surveillance and recordings will be compulsorily submitted to the university. Besides, all major construction projects will now undergo third-party evaluation to ensure quality and compliance, the VC added.
