Bengaluru: Over Rs 12 crore has been collected by the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) from the students towards e-learning every year, but the annual reports of the university show that only Rs 26 lakh and Rs 11 lakh were spent on e-learning in 2012-13 and 2013-14, respectively.
According to a daily, only a part of the money is spent on e-learning, while a major chuck is allotted to other programmes. The goals for which the money is generated are not being met as per their annual reports.
The money is reportedly being spent on a platform that provides soft skills to IT and non-IT students of VTU, procurement of Micro Electro Mechanical Systems software, Apple Bio-informatics lab, wireless lab, campus automation software and online examination and evaluation for PG programmes of the university.
According to the sources the money is collected from the students – Rs 500 per year per under the guidance of the executive council of VTU. However the annual report claims that the collected money is being spent on other courses. The money collected as fee which is Rs 12 crore, is shown under different account heads as income from e-learning fees, it is said.
The documents also show that the university already charges an additional Rs 500 per year as ‘e-resource consortium fee’ in addition to the Rs 500 as e-learning fee.
This amounts to duplicity – charging additional money from students, when money is collected twice for the same objective of providing e-learning resources.
