New Delhi, Oct. 23: The IITs are preparing to gradually hike their fees to levels closer to the amounts charged by the IIMs over the coming few years to meet rising costs and reduce dependence on government subsidies.

In a departure from their traditional fee-setting strategy, the IITs are preparing a roadmap for gradual fee hikes just a year after they last raised fees, top sources on the IIT council told The Telegraph.

A panel set up by the council — the highest decision making body of the IITs — headed by atomic energy chief Anil Kakodkar has been asked to draft the roadmap for gradual fee hikes, the sources said.

Drafting the fee hike roadmap is one of the components of the mandate of the Kakodkar panel, set up at the council meeting on October 19 to prepare a blueprint for the future development of the IITs. The Kakodkar panel has been asked to submit its report in six months.

The strategy of employing gradual hikes — possibly on an annual basis — represents a change from the current practice of a sudden jump after several years of an unchanged fee structure.

The new strategy aims at following the IIM practice of a gradual but regular fee hike supported by an increase in financial assistance for those students who cannot afford the new fee structure.

The Kakodkar panel will recommend how the IITs can increase the number of scholarships, fellowships and other financial aid to ensure that deserving but economically weak students do not suffer from the hike, sources said.

“The strategy of gradual fee hikes will allow us, for the first time, an opportunity to hike fees commensurate with rising costs,” an IIT director said.

The IITs had a fixed tuition fee of Rs 25,000 a year for undergraduate and postgraduate science students for 10 years before the fees were doubled last year — to Rs 50,000 a year.

But even with the new fee structure, the IITs earn only Rs 2 lakh for four years of undergraduate teaching or Rs 1 lakh for two years of the masters in science programme from each student.

The top IIMs — which typically raise their fees each year — in contrast earn around 10 times as much through tuition fees from each student over comparable course lengths.

IIM Ahmedabad, for instance raised the fees for its two-year post-graduate diploma in management to Rs 12.5 lakh this year, from Rs 11.5 lakh last year.

The IIMs in Bangalore and Calcutta charge Rs 9.5 lakh and Rs 9 lakh for their two year postgraduate diploma courses respectively.

The IITs have over recent years frequently complained about an increasing financial deficit — the gap between funds allocated to them by the government on one hand and their expenditure on the other.

The institutes have met the deficit by dipping into reserve funds drawn from alumni donations and money earned through consultancy projects with industry. But these funds, the IITs have argued, are dwindling.

The IITs argue that their students — like those at the IIMs — earn starting salaries adequate to allow them to pay back any education loan within a few years.