HRD minister Javadekar meets with IIM directors

NEW DELHI: HRD minister Prakash Javadekar’s meeting with IIM directors on Tuesday in Shillong will take a comprehensive view of steps to be taken to make IIMs world class institutions.

Ministry has decided to look into problems of old IIMs in Ahmedabad, Bangluru, Kolkata, and Lucknow separately from second generation and latest IIMs announced by NDA government in 2014. A ministry source said, "The three sets of IIMs face their distinct problem. While older IIMs face problems of faculty and research new IIMs are in want of infrastructure and other basic facilities. They need to be tackled differently."

One of the nagging problems of IIMs is faculty crunch that stands at 23% now. This is a problem more common in old IIMs. For instance, in IIM, Ahmedabad there are over 30 vacancies out of 120 sanctioned strength. IIM, Bangalore with same sanctioned strength also has same number of vacancies. Newer IIMs with few courses have smaller sanctioned strength due to lesser number of courses but still face the challenge of vacant faculty positions. "If IIMs aspire to become world class institutions they have to ensure it attracts the best talent to teach. Guest faculty should be minimized," a source said.

Javadekar will also take stock of scholarships/loans provided by IIMs to SC/ST and needy students from general class. "There have been representation from various quarters that scholarship scheme is not efficiently managed. We can learn from IIT model," one source said.

Lack of top quality research is often considered a key reason why IIMs have lagged behind in international rankings. Sources said IIMs have been successful in churning out top quality managers but long-term research is not being done. "IIMs have to pay due attention to carrying out serious research. Some of American and European management institutes do far-reaching research that is used by business schools all over the world. We need to emphasise on this," a source said.