IIM-L students to learn from international faculty as well

FAIR SHARE Percentage of girl students in classrooms should be over 40 as they bring a different perspective to management education, says new director

LUCKNOW: Students of Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIM-L) will soon get to learn from the experiences of international faculty as well.

A day after taking charge as director of the institute, professor Ajit Prasad on Tuesday said he planned to start a faculty-in-residence programme on the campus. The programme seeks to facilitate, strengthen and expand interaction between faculty members and students beyond the classroom or laboratory setting.

Under this concept that is already popular in the western countries, prominent academicians are invited to the campus. Specialising in different subjects of management, these experts stay on the campus for a term and interact with the students and faculty via seminars, workshops and other research activities.

The director, who completed his post graduation from the London School of Economics and went on to become a faculty member in reputed institutes of UK, France, Netherlands, Dubai and Singapore, said he would ensure that students get international exposure.

Prasad said he would strive to transform IIM-Lucknow into a world-class institution. “We will try to achieve worldclass standards in teaching, research and projects. The quality of education being imparted here will not be compromised under any circumstances,” he said.

The new director also promised to bring more transparency in the functioning of the institute. “From the appointment of teaching and non-teaching staff to evaluation of answer sheets, I want to create an atmosphere where stakeholders don’t need to seek information through the Right to Information Act,” he said.

Prasad said he would focus on facilitating research with the potential to benefit stakeholders at the local, national as well as international level. IIM-Lucknow, he said, was the only IIM to use ‘public policy’ in its vision document. He emphasised that his priority was to ensure that the institute developed a ‘bifocal vision’ wherein the focus would not only be on policy mat- tersof national importance, but also on state related policy matters.

We will try to achieve world-class standards in teaching, research and projects. The quality of education being imparted here will not be compromised under any circumstances

AJIT PRASAD, IIM-L DIRECTOR

LUCKNOW: IIM-Lucknow’s newly appointed director, Ajit Prasad on Tuesday said efforts would be made to support local entrepreneurs in the manufacturing industry to aid the ‘Make in India’ campaign.

He said Kanpur and Lucknow were the hub of manufacturing industry in UP but production activity had dipped for some reason or the other. As part of its corporate social responsibility, IIM-L will like to help local entrepreneurs and revival of the industry, he added.

Underlining the importance of diversity, both in terms of gender and class, Prasad said the percentage of girl students in classrooms should be over 40 as they bring a different perspective to management education.

He said time has come to create an environment where the number of women applicants increases, which will apparently pave way for increasing the number of students seeking admission to IIM-L.

This year, the B-school saw a sharp dip in the number of women candidates. Out of the total 422 admissions, only 136 were women. Last year, there were 189 women in a batch of 411 students.

The director assured that after discussions with the faculty, various measures would be introduced to increase diversity in various programmes at IIM-Lucknow. He, however, clarified that he was against giving any quota. “The women must come forward and apply for admission. Probably, in our society, they get married and drop the idea of appearing in competitive examination,” he said. Prasad called upon media and society to help women come forward and excel in life as they bring an entirely new perspective to everything - be it in management education or profession. IIM-Lucknow will also revise its fee structure. This B-School had slashed the fees for its post-graduate programme for the academic term 2013-2015 by 10% from `12 lakh to Rs 10.80 lakh.

But now the IIM-Lucknow intends to hike fees, as the institute had not revised its fees despite inflation. The fee for the same course at IIM Bangalore is `17 lakh and `16.6 lakh at IIM Ahmedabad, said sources.

The new director is not in favour of having multiple campuses. He said it was more useful to forge multiple alliances and gain from the strengths of different institutions through tie-ups and alliances. “We are fortunate to have campuses in Lucknow and Noida. There is no point in having an IIM campus outside India. The IIM is meant to cater to Indian students. If foreign students choose to come to India and study in one of the 19 IIMs, they are welcome,” he said.

Sharing experiences of his student days, he highlighted the need of having socially productive activities for all students - he was quite in favour on introducing the concept of ‘Shramdaan’ among the students of IIM-L.

Stressing on the merits of the importance of global exposure, Dr Prasad said he was in favour of exchange programmes not only for students but also for the faculty. He exhorted the media to create a conducive and healthy environment for the benefit of the state and the nation in general.