All is not well at India’s premier B-school, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB), with faculty members alleging that the administration is apathetic to their welfare.
The disturbing facts came to the fore after a recent report on faculty members conducted by professor Rajeev Gowda and professor Vasanthi Srinivasan of IIMB. The report states that more and more teachers at the institute feel that administration is trying to sideline them. The faculty members believe that their contribution has been hugely neglected by the administration with no appreciation for their hard work.
The survey report has been submitted to the offices of the IIMB director Pankaj Chandra and dean (Academic) professor Trilochan Sastry for necessary action. The offices of the director and dean refused to comment on the issue.
“The results of the survey are very damaging and the offices of the director and dean are trying to brush it under the carpet,” said a senior faculty member on condition of anonymity.
Listing the contributions of faculty members of IIMB, a memorandum was recently submitted at the board of governors meeting, headed by Mukesh Ambani, chairperson and managing director of Reliance Industries Limited.
“During the last two decades, IIMB has launched three new degree-equivalent programmes successfully; the number of students enrolled at any time in degree-equivalent programmes has gone up from about 400 to about 1,200. The quality of teaching has been consistently high as reflected in students’ feedback and teaching awards given by various external agencies to several of our faculty,” the memorandum stated.
“Faculty members are on the editorial board of several top-tiered international journals and write regularly in top Indian publication houses. The institute’s financial position is sound and we have been consistently able to more than cover our operating expenses,” stated the memorandum.
Teachers at the B-school said the institute would not have made so much of progress without the contribution of its faculty members.
“If due support and respect is not given to the faculty members, the institute will find itself in a difficult position in coming time,” said a teacher of IIMB.
