Content area
Full Text
Students who aspire to study medicine in India are up against many obstacles, including intense competition, multiple rounds of entrance exams, quotas of seats in government colleges reserved for under-represented groups, and, in many cases, a high price tag.
Private colleges may ask for one-off "capitation fees," separate from fees for tuition and maintenance. Often paid by parents, these effectively compulsory donations are illegal and may exceed Rs10m (£100000; [euro]130000; $150000). 1 2
A recent report from the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy ranked the education sector second in a list of generators of "black money" in India. It estimated that capitation fees paid to professional colleges last year totalled Rs60bn. 3
Nightmare for students
One undergraduate student, who asked to remain anonymous, told me that getting into medical college had been "a nightmare." She had signed up for special coaching to prepare for premedical exams and had taken 12 entrance tests. Ultimately, although she scored 96% in the state level board examination and did well in all the entrance tests, she did not qualify for admission to any of the top government colleges and had to settle for a college far from her home city of Mumbai. She did not pay capitation. "It is almost impossible to get into government colleges. And it is difficult to get a seat in many private colleges without paying huge sums of money," she said.
Other students shared similar stories, but one said that although some students pay for their places at the undergraduate level, many can secure admission on merit, even at private medical colleges.
But the situation is much worse for postgraduates. "At the postgraduate level, seats are very limited, and almost all the government seats go to reserved candidates," she said. "The rest [of the applicants] have to go to private colleges, and with the demand being so high postgraduate level seats can cost almost Rs10m [in capitation fees]." 4
Capitation fees vary-institutes with a better standing can command higher prices, and the fee is lower if students "reserve" their place with capitation before the admissions process starts. If they seek admission after the results of the entrance test are announced, they may have to pay as much as Rs5m, students said. Most...