In effect, it means a Pune student will have to spend approximately Rs 2 lakh per year as tuition fees as against Rs 6 lakh for his/her counterpart from anywhere else in the country. The concession is part of Pune-Fairbanks North Star Borough (FNSB), Alaska, USA Sister City relationship.

Shirish Patil, Professor and Chair, Department of Petroleum Engineering, College of Engineering and Mines, UAF who was in Pune on Tuesday, said: “The concession is applicable in all the 116 courses offered by the university. However, it is our observation that most Indian students opt for courses in engineering, sciences and business courses.” Along with Patil, Timothy Barnett, Vice-Chancellor of UAF and Dr John Lehman, Director, Professor, School of Management, were in Pune for a student-interact session giving information about the UAF and the concessions.

Barnett said that initially, they are looking at 50-100 students from Pune who will avail of the concession. Other than that, UAF has also introduced a ‘two plus two’ scheme for courses in engineering, business administration, accounting and economics, where the student can study in any private college in India for two years, move to UAF for the next two years and obtain a UAF degree.

A highlight of the interactive session in Pune was that the major part of admission procedure for all the programmes was completed in Pune itself. The UAF officials themselves evaluated the application forms and made preliminary admissions decisions. Students could save Rs 5,000 with this feature.