South Asian University (SAU) will introduce four academic programmes this year and add about 300 seats but won’t enhance the amount of scholarship, a long standing demand of students.

K.K. Aggarwal, who recently took over as the president of the international university, on Thursday told a news conference that it was not feasible to enhance the scholarship amount. The master’s degree students get a scholarship of Rs 5,000 per month while the PhD students get Rs 25,000 a month.

The students have said they are facing difficulty in supporting their studies with the existing scholarship amount. In October 2022, the university saw students’ protests over the demand for raising the stipend for those pursuing master’s degrees from Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000 a month and an increase in support for PhD students to bring it on a par with the amount given to candidates under the Junior Research Fellowship.

“Increasing scholarship amounts beyond the present level is not feasible. We already increased the scholarship amount earlier,” Aggarwal said.

The scholarship amount for the PhD students was Rs 10,000 a month — which was increased to Rs 25,000 about five years ago.

Aggarwal said the student strength of the university is about 600. In 2024-25, SAU will introduce programmes such as BTech, Dual Degree (BTech+MTech), MTech and integrated MSc+MTech.

It will offer 120 seats in BTech courses, while adding about 80 seats in master’s courses. At the PhD level, the university will increase the number of seats to 100 from 75.

Several students were suspended and expelled in 2022 and 2023 for taking part in the protests. In 2023, the university forced students to sign an undertaking that they would not take part in any form of protest.

In response to a question on the students’ agitation, Aggarwal said indiscipline would not be tolerated.

He said the university was planning to offer courses online with the provision that the students would have to come to sit for the examination in physical mode.

SAU has been set up as a joint effort of the Saarc countries. Last year, it started operating from its permanent campus in Delhi.