Postgraduate programmes self-funded – FUT VC

Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology (FUT), Minna, Niger State, Professor Bala Abdullahi, has said fees and charges for both fresh and returning postgraduate students were moderate and within the threshold  of federal universities across the country.

Speaking on the backdrop of the recent motion in the House of Representatives that the institution’s management maintained status quo on its fees and charges for postgraduate students reviewed recently, the vice chancellor said the tentative amounts to be charged were arrived at after painstaking deliberation by the stakeholders.

The member representing Bida/Gbako/Katcha Federal Constituency and Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Finance, Saidu Musa Abdul, who sponsored the motion, had alerted his colleagues on the charges which, he said, placed the university among the most expensive public tertiary institutions in the country.

“The increment is coming at a time serious lamentation of economic hardships exists in the country and as such many parents and self-sponsored students will not be able to pay the new fees/charges and consequently, the possibility of mass dropout is visible,” he pointed out.

However, in an interview with Daily Trust on Tuesday in Minna, Professor Bala said the committee, which looked into the issue of review of charges and the management, was mindful of the economic reality in the country before arriving at the outcome.

The vice chancellor further stated that the postgraduate progamme was not subsidized by government, but was self-funded unlike the undergraduate arrangement, adding that the programme is run through the undergraduate facilities.

“We have been subsidising the postgraduate programme using resources from the undergraduate and the departmental heads and deans have been complaining on the need for the postgraduate students to also contribute to the running cost,” he said.

He also faulted the claim that FUT charges were the most expensive in the country.