Hussain M Elius

I feel obliged to share my experiences with the rest of the world. Mainly because of the meager, and technically incorrect, coverage of certain national daily >_>

It all started in February, 2009, when North South University announced that we are going to go and settle to the long awaited (and I really do mean long awaited, but I am getting there) new campus at Bashundhara. That’s all fine and dandy, we say, but that was before we learned that from the Summer 2009 semester (it was Spring), the per credit fees will be increased to 5,500 taka from 4,000.

A 1,500/= increase PER CREDIT? Are you kidding me? I mean, we waited 7 years for the Bashundhara campus to be finished, SEVEN YEARS! Do you know how long that is? Yeah, well, you do, but get this: during these seven years ALL students had to pay a 3,500/= campus development fee. And most students don’t even stay that long in a university. So basically they (as compared to me and us) had to pay 3,500/= extra. Every semester. That means NSU received, every 4 months, 3,500 * 3 semester * 4 different years * approximately 1,000 student per semester = 42,000,00/= (4.2 crore). After 7 years that becomes 42,000,000 * 7 years * 3 semester = 588,000,000/= (58.8 crore or 8.4 million USD) 8.4 million USD in one of the poorest countries in the world is a very big deal. All of which, presumably, went to develop a 12.5 million square feet campus at Bashundhara.

Right. Still okay. A bit. I mean, wasn’t NSU supposed to pay for the construction from there campus? Because wikipedia describes the Banani campus as temporary. But fine, so when we shift to the new campus there should be no more Campus Development Fee (CDF), right? The total charge should decrease. Yay us!

No, a notice in front of the SPZ building in NSU says things differently. That was 9th February. Instantly a student stood up to protest against the hike. A few followed. Soon, thousands followed. That was the first protest against the admins of NSU in the history of NSU. If it was DU, there would have been breaking of cars and glasses, burning effegies representing the Vice Chancellor, and stuff we see in news whenever something happens in DU or any other public university in the country. But this wasn’t DU. It was NSU and it was peaceful, or as peaceful as it can be when a few thousand students rise up in a common purpose. Regardless, the admins were scared to see such a unity, the first they have ever seen, and immediately published another notice that was the price hike was not applicable for current students.

It was agreeable. When we enter a university, or any place at all, we enter a commitment. I think an analogy would serve better. Suppose, to take a CNG Taxi we make a deal with the Taxi driver. Suppose to go from Motijheel to Banini he would charge 80 taka. But there were some traffic jam and yada yada so when we finally reached our destination he said 80 taka won’t do I have to pay a hundred. You can clearly see what’s wrong with the picture. The deal we had before I took the taxi is not being acknowledged. Whether there were a traffic jam or not was not a part of the deal and hence should not be put under consideration.

So anyway, we won. We rock. Woohoo! When a new student enters the Summer semester he would know about the new tuition fee and as such would be ready to make that kind of commitment. An old student was not, and he should not be held liable for the extra 1,500 taka per credit. (On an average, we take 12 credits per semester, that actually makes the rise in price 18,000/=)

On May 7th, 3 days before the start of advising (or enrolling for new subjects before the semester) another notice went up in NSU website in the dead of the night and this is what it said (in summery, because as you can see, the link was taken down):

• A rise of 500/= tuition fee per credit.
• A rise of 1,000/= in student activity fee.
• A rise of 1,500/= in computer lab fee.
• A decrease of 5,00/= in library fee.
• No CDF (Campus Development Fee) and No Caution Money of 5,000.

Wow we paid caution money? I didn’t even know that! Immediately, thanks to Facebook, we knew about the new notice. Groups were created, events were proposed and the next thing you know, there were 1,500/= registered participants in a protest in NSU and 500 group members in the protest group.

The notice was taken down by 8th. And replaced with a more humble one.

Regardless, because of the afformentioned reasons, we would not give in. Even assuming there was a rise of 300% of maintenance fee, that was not proportionate to the number of course we were taking. It’s simply illogical to increase credit fees with the increase in maintenance fees! Why don’t you convert the 3,500/= CDF into 3,500/= Maintenance fee? 4.2 Crore taka every three months is a lot of dough. One can live happily ever after with that.

EDIT 1: Never mind the ~192 Crore Taka (an underestimate) NSU gets every year from the credit fees (assuming 4000 Taka, if I assume 4500, it’ll jump to 216, and in 4 years when everyone will pay 5,500, so then the figure jumps to 264- calculated based on 10,000 students, 16 creds per semester). PLUS, 10,000 Taka from every 1,000 student that gets into NSU 30Cr. It has been already raised for the new students but I don’t remember by how much to 20,000, a 100% increase. That brings their total revenue to (right now), approximately 250 Cr. And remember, I haven’t included the other fees.

Where does all those money go to? We are smart enough to know that all of those does not go to our respected teachers. And puh-leeze, don’t tell me it’s tax. NSU is registered as a foundation and not a corporation. Although it is behaving like one.

EDIT 3: NTV Reported (11th May) that the new campus has a price tag of 250Cr (on an 18 Bigha plot). The NSU Catalog 2007-2008 confirmed the amount and mentions that the size of the campus is 18 acre. Now 18 acres = 784,080 sq.feet. However, this notice says that the NSU campus is 12.5 lac (1,250,000) square feet. Another public lie or was their calculator faulty?

Cost of services rose 100% during the last few years, did it? Well, guess what? You don’t have to pay crores of taka every year renting the SPZ, STR, GMQ, BTR, English Department, Architecture Department, Library and the administrative building anymore. It’s not like you need a pay back for the huge investment you made. After all, it was not your investment. Past students paid 58.8 crore taka for that (my calculations are underestimate). I assume the campus can be put under the account “paid in full”. By my calculations, you are saving more money, not spending more.

The 7% mentioned is nothing but a, what we call, “eye-wash”. The CDF is still there, but in disguise. And on an average students take 4 courses per semester, not 3, so the percentage increase is much more then 7.23.

Oh, and did I mention putting a different notice after saying that no extra charge will be applicable in February proved the NSU admins are, to be blunt, liars?

Do raise the price for the lack of raising tuition fee in the last 7 years. But why with us? Do it to the new kids. Give them the burden! (sorry!). They know what they are getting into. Well, so did we when we were admitted in the most expensive university in Bangladesh, but not for this! Not to be extorted!

Edit 2: This is a part of an eye-opening comment by Maneka A. Faizi which I feel is important enough to be here with the main article.

The new tuiton fee hike would mean we pay 3000Tk extra in addition ion to the basic credit fees of 4500Tk for our studio courses. And we have to complete 75 studio credits which is divided into 16 courses. That’s an increase of the fee by almost 28%. That means NSU would be earning 65-70,000 on average from each Architecture Student. A total of (70,000TK * 200 students * 3 semesters = 42,000,000Tk) 42 crore just from Architecture department.

In addition, the notice on NSU website says, they haven’t increased the tuition fees for the last 7 years which is a total lie. I am a final year student (051 batch). During 2005, per credit fees was 3000tk and now they are demanding 4500tk. In 4 years, the fees have increased by 50%!!!

The final year students of NSU Architecture Department is a living talking proof of what big liars NSU authorities are.

Today is the 10th. It’s 9PM as I write this post. A thousand students started the day with yet another peaceful protest. But this time, we were organized. There were banners, placards, and leadership. The admins were prepared as well. What did they began the day with? Riot police and a Proctor that… well… never mind.

I am not going to go to the details on what happened today. In short, we blocked the road (but only after the Proctor delayed our meeting with the VC and made us wait in the scorching heat for more than an hour) and organized a rally. I stayed for a long while but not until the end. What happened in the end? Well, the VC was locked up in his office until he contacted and conveyed the Board of Governor’s decision. He didn’t. He fed us to the riot police. And tear gas. About 20 students were injured, including girls. Yes, my friends, that’s what we get for being civilized and not turning to our boxing gloves! We dispersed for the day. But not without hard feelings. This isn’t the end.

We may pay the increased fees, but only because we don’t have a choice. You may think you won, but do you realize what you just created? A flame in the heart of every NSU student who ever looked up to you as an example. Clearly, a teenager like me can see the long term implications of today’s event then our honourable administrators. We may fear you, or at least I fear you, for writing this post and letting the world know about the injustice, but do I, or anyone else in NSU, respect you, respect you anymore? That I’ll leave you to ponder.

P.S. Regardless of what you hear, no NSU student moved against the police or broke any glasses or burned any papers. This was caused by the police, as NTV reported correctly. The picketing outside was not caused by any students also. During the commission, a few outsiders entered the NSU premises and well, and what can we expect from them who enter willingly into a place where they know trouble is brewing?

Updates:

• 11/05: An eye-witness account by Maksudur Rahman
• 11/05: An email from a former faculty member regarding the first protest
• 11/05: Article on Prothom Alo Blog
• 11/05: A video round-up by NSUers.com
• 12/05: A Disgrace to Education, written by an IBA student, Ruxana Akhter
• 12/05: Education Is Not Business: A Support Towards Protests at NSU, written by an IUB student, Sabhanaz Rashid Diya.
• 12/05: A press conference was held by the students at 12th May, 11 AM by NSU Students. A press briefing was published. At least 500 students and 50 guardians were present. Petition signed. We went to file an official complaint to the University Grant Commission, who showed us support, and referred us to the Minister of Education.
• 12/05: NSU is opened at 13th and 14th May. Students are requested to wear a black badge during these two days. There is supposedly a meeting at 10:30 AM on the 13th in front of the SPZ building. [Formed Human chain all the way from STR to BTA and beyond]
• 12/05: Added Edits 1, 2, and 3 in the main article.
• 12/05: Watch out for two op-eds I assisted Mridul Chowdhury and Rubayat Khan with. “The NSU Incident – A microcosm of Bangladesh?” in Daily Star, and “Ekti Bichinno Protibad, ebong…” in Prothom Alo respectively.
• 13/05: The NSU Incident – A microcasm of Bangladesh? has been published in the Daily Star (13th May, 09). The author, Mridul Chowdhury, is a co-founder of Jagoree, an organization I am involved with.
• 13/05: Another Jagoree co-founder, Rubayat Khan, wrote about this incident as a Prothom-Alo op-ed (13th May, 09), titled “Ekti Bichchinno Protibad, ebong…“
• 13/05: NSU has published a their comments on the 10th May incident. You don’t have to be a genius to figure out how much is the truth, and how much is not.
• AWESOMENESS: Today, 13th, we went as far up as the minister of education and he said he will take necessary steps if NSU does not reduce fees. That did the trick. A new notice is up that states an actual decrease in fees for both new AND old students.