The management of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) says it is looking into a complaint about fees charged postgraduate students as a prerequisite to defending their thesis.
The students who staged a protest at the office of the Vice Chancellor of the university on Monday said they cannot afford to pay the N30,000 charged postgraduate diploma students; N60,000 for masters and N90,000 for Ph.D. students allegedly demanded by the institution.
The Public Relations Officer of UNIBEN, Michael Osasuyi said the fees were as a result of the decision of the University Council in 2016.
He said: “In a university, things are done accordingly. Nobody wakes up to take a decision without the Council’s approval and there is a Council decision on all of these matters as it concerns the postgraduate students. When you go elsewhere outside the University of Benin, you will come to appreciate the University of Benin’s position that we are very considerate when it comes to whatever we are doing here”.
“So I want to assure the students that the matter is being looked into. The University of Benin has not increased fees. Whatever ever the students are talking about was a Council’s decision in October 2016 and not even the school fees or the tuition as the case may be. It takes a lot to train postgraduate students and the University of Benin is poised at doing that which is very important and relevant,” Osasuyi added.
