The fee hike in the past few years has caused many to speculate that Project Parivartan has been responsible for the rise in fee as well as students’ woes. The Pilani Chapter of 180 Degrees Consulting, the world’s largest volunteer consultancy, investigates.

BACKGROUND:
In 2009, it was decided that the three BITS campuses – Pilani in particular, needed an infrastructural boost to provide world-class facilities to students. After considerable planning, the entire development plan was revealed and dubbed ‘Project Parivartan.’ The project which began in 2011 is expected to cost approximately INR 412 Cr and be completed in 2020.

ANALYSIS:
There are various revenue streams like PSD, UGC Grants, Aditya Birla Fund, investments, etc. for BITS Pilani. However, we observed that two sources in particular – on-campus fees, and proceeds from Work Integrated Learning Programme (WILP) – constitute roughly 80% of the total revenue generated and have the most variability. Hence, these two revenue streams are analysed in greater detail.

The graph shows the increase in semester fee (for the years 2017-20, projections are based on existing data). Comparing the growth rate of the fees for the period 2003-2010 (Pre-project Parivartan), which is at around 8.62%, to that for 2011-2017 (Post Project Parivartan), calculated at 11.09%, gives us a curious correlation. Project Parivartan was undertaken at an estimated cost of INR 412 Cr, of which around INR 150 Cr was sourced through a debt. The debt was completely repaid with interest during the period 2012-15.

WILP integrates learning with the working environment of professionals, and enables participants to enhance their academic qualification without taking a career break. WILP also offers degree and certificate programmes under corporate partnerships to leading organizations from several industries customized to suit their learning requirements. WILP has around 20,000 students registered under it.

As seen in the figure above, growth rate of proceeds from WILP has been lower than that of on-campus revenues. This has primarily been due to a decrease in the number of students registering for WILP courses in recent years. A steep hike in WILP fees might further decrease the number of students registering. Fee hikes for WILP courses have been moderate and more or less constant over the years.

KEY FINDINGS:
Annual reports of the institute reported a loss of INR 1-3 lakh in the years 2008-09, while in 2010 there was a sudden spike in losses to INR 20.47 Cr. This was followed by the skyrocketing spike in fees seen in the following year (2011 – 56%). This also falls in alignment with the announcement of Project Parivartan.
1. As per our calculations (for Pilani campus), WILP currently forms 40% of the revenue, while the rest of it comes from the on-campus first degree and higher degree programmes.
2. In the recent past, the IITs have seen steep fee hikes of around 80% and even 100%. However, this has usually been separated by a gap of 3-5 years. The yearly fees for government funded institutes like IITs remain significantly lower than BITS Pilani. A Comparison with the IITs has been drawn because BITS Pilani, unlike other private institutes in India, exists as a non-profit generating entity.

Sources: Annual Reports, Bulletin, News articles, Fine Print Aug. 2014, Internal Estimates.

180 Degrees Consulting is the world’s largest volunteer consultancy working with social organization and non-profits and helping them scale their impact. As Consultants at 180DC, we help socially conscious organizations achieve more by solving business problems being faced by them, and such analyses are a part and parcel of our job. If you feel you have the knack and passion to do something similar, do look out for our e-mail with details of our hiring process. To know more, follow us on Facebook @ 180 Degrees Consulting – BITS Pilani.