Govt takes steps to ‘free’ IIMs

Autonomy was Kapil Sibal’s refrain on Friday after a meeting involving the ministry of human resource development (MHRD) and the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). The Union minister for human resource development said he has given the IIMs wings with a mandate to fly high.

The steps taken to ‘free’ the IIMs include selection of the directors and board members of the IIMs by an independent collegium and an “in principle” agreement to allow the institutes to open campuses abroad. Sibal said that the IIM directors have accepted the idea of collegium-based appointment.

“It will be the duty of the collegium to hunt for the right persons and suggest names for appointment of the board members and directors to the government,” Sibal said. This collegium will recommend the names to the MHRD.

Thus far, the selection was done by the board of governors of each IIM, who then nominated the names to the MHRD for a final decision. However, now, there will be a single collegium which, the minister said, was a step towards granting more autonomy.
The collegium will comprise 13 members who could be academicians, representatives from industry and other persons of eminence.

“The government wants to give more freedom to the IIMs and this is a step towards that. I have asked the IIMs to come to the government with a roadmap for the next five years,” Sibal said.

He added that the idea of a collegium was mooted after the IIM directors rejected the IIM Review Committee’s recommendation for having a pan-IIM board to look after its functioning, including appointments.

Though skeptical, the IIM directors seem to have welcomed the idea. “It is a good idea but we have to see how it can be implemented effectively,” said professor Pankaj Chandra, director, IIM-Bangalore.

Former IIM-Ahmedabad director Bakul Dholakia said, “The decision of having a collegium for the appointment of directors and board members is a relief as the idea of a Pan-IIM board has been discarded. If the collegium functions independently, it would be a progressive mechanism for the IIMs. But they must function without any government interference.”

The other major decision, of allow IIMs spread wings by opening campuses abroad, is in sharp contrast to that of former HRD minister Arjun Singh, who had refused to let IIM-Bangalore set up a campus in Singapore. However, while Sibal has agreed to allow the B-schools set up shop overseas, this comes with conditions attached.

“I have absolutely no problems if the Indian institutes open campuses abroad. But their first priority should be to cater to Indian students, that the students do not suffer and then if they still can manage a centre outside India, I have no problems,” he said. “But for opening a campus abroad, IIMs have to amend their memorandum of agreement with the government.”

—With inputs from Jumana Shah & Jayalakshmi Venug