As Parliament passes Bill, IIMs get ready for a degree of change
The Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) are getting ready for a new chapter after the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday passed a Bill (approved by the Lok Sabha) that, among other things, grants them the power to award degrees.
Directors of some top IIMs said some clarity was awaited from the ministry of human resource development (MHRD) but the premier institutes would start taking steps to operate according to the provisions under the Act. Most IIMs were confident of implementing the rules by June 2018, when the next batch is to come in. “We don’t have to change much on the academic activity front,” said Saibal Chattopadhyay, director of IIM- Calcutta.
G Raghuram, director of IIM-Bangalore, said each of the institutes would have to come up with regulations that would be placed before Parliament for approval. “MHRD has to come up with rules. Each IIM will have to come up with ordinances and regulations. While ordinances will have to be approved by each institute’s board, regulations will have to be placed before Parliament for approval. For example, major decisions such as launching a new programme will be a regulation, while internal decisions such as credits or grades determination for students to pass will be part of ordinances.”
MHRD would also have to come up with rules on issues such as directors’ terms and remuneration for external members of the coordination forum, among others.
The Indian Institutes of Management Bill, 2017, grants the IIMs functional autonomy and restricts the role of the government in appointing directors and faculty members. The Bill, which would become an Act once the President signs it, declares the 20 IIMs as institutes of national importance. As of now, IIMs offer postgraduate diplomas in management and research fellowships. They would soon be able to offer Master’s degrees such as an MBA, as well as PhDs.
The Bill empowers the IIM boards on several fronts, including appointment of chairpersons and directors. The appointments used to happen via the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, chaired by the prime minister. The Bill provides for a management driven by the Board of Governors. The chairperson and director can be selected by the board. The Bill also calls for greater participation of experts and alumni on the board as well as inclusion of women and members from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
A 19-member Board of Governors would nominate 17 members from a pool of eminent personalities, faculty members and alumni, while two members would be nominees from the central and state governments. “We are doing it for the first time. We will look forward to MHRD’s guidance. We will meeting the ministry and the internal board to decide what is best for the institute,” said Chattopadhyay.
The Bill also provided for a periodic review of the IIMs by independent agencies.
IIMs are autonomous bodies registered under the Societies Act. They have been awarding postgraduate diplomas and fellow programmes in management. These awards are mostly treated as equivalent to MBAs and PhDs, respectively.