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| 'Priority areas for PGP being drafted' | | Q&A: N Ravichandaran |
| Archana M Prasanna / New Delhi Dec 09, 2008, 00:41 IST |
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 Fifty five-year-old N Ravichandaran specialises in teaching production and quantitative methods. One of the senior-most faculty members at IIM-A, Ravichandran is a PhD in applied probability from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and has the distinction of working with only one employer, IIM-A, ever since he started working in 1980. Now that he has been elevated to take over as the director of Indian Institute of Management, Indore, he speaks to Archana M Prasanna about his vision for the school
When did you decide to throw your hat in the ring?
No position should be sought after. It should just come your way. If you begin a career of academic teaching and research, you begin to realise that you have some influence in the society. The question is how do you influence good institutes in a way that they would stand the test of time. I see this as a natural progression of academics. I had not applied for the post but was nominated, most likely by colleagues, under a selection committee constituted by the human resources development ministry.
What will you focus on as the director ?
Our immediate focus is on the flagship two-year Post Graduate Programme (PGP). We will strive to make the programme as contemporary as possible and make it one of the finest programmes in the country. I have started holding discussions with the chairperson PGP to draft priority areas and the steps to be taken. We will talk to different people to include various inputs and analyse what are our strengths and areas to improve.
How will you tackle the faculty crunch?
The faculty crunch cannot be solved by one institute alone. In the current situation, the crunch will continue. We have academician friends in various places and we can ask them to teach when required. We can even look at colleagues from foreign universities, but the constraint is we are not able to pay what they deserve. We must look at innovative models and involve industry people in teaching. We have 33 faculty members and would need 12 more people.
The doctoral programmes have been constituted to encourage young people to take up academics, yet few people from the IIMs seem to be coming back to academics. Is there any initiative you plan to take in this regard?
A PhD candidate has usually been in academics for five years before receiving his/her qualification. After that, it’s up to the individual to make a choice. An individual should have the freedom to choose his career. I believe that one day or the other, they will come back to academics. In this case, money and financial incentives are hardly a factor to attract candidates. There are two types of PhD candidates — one set of people who do their PhD and make the automatic choice of coming back to academics and the other who work in the industry and do different things but finally do associate with academics in some way or the other.
Your views on the the IIM review committee report, headed by RC Bhargava...
The larger interests of the committee and the institutes are the same. The IIMs may have their own point of view on certain things but we will find a common ground.
How will you address areas like research development and infrastructure expansion?
Research is a part of the teaching process so it is natural that we work towards it. We have an intake of 240 PGP students and need to expand that intake as part of the Other Backward Classes quota for the next two years. We have a 190 acre campus and will expand infrastructure when the need arises.
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