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| Panacea for Iim faculty crunch? |
| Kalpana Pathak / Mumbai Jul 12, 2010, 00:54 IST |
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In a couple of weeks, a team headed by Ajit Balakrishnan is expected to submit its report, which addresses ways to solve the staff crunch at IIMs.
Attracting high-quality faculty has always proved to be the Achilles heel of the premier Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). With talks of a Cabinet nod soon to allow foreign universities to set up campuses in India, the situation could only worsen with stiff competition for the right talent.
Taking cognizance of the issue, in April this year, the Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Kapil Sibal had decided to constitute a team headed by Ajit Balakrishnan, Founder, Chairman & CEO of Rediff.com to address the issue. His team is expected to submit its findings in the next 15 days.
The committee, according to a team member who did not wish to be named, has suggested ways to increase the number of PhDs, step up quality and quantity of research and attract faculty in areas where there's a dearth such as marketing and finance. The team includes Samir Barua, director of IIM Ahmedabad, Ravi Kumar of Tata Motors, N Damodaran, ex-Sebi chief and Devi Singh, director of IIM Lucknow.
“Through this report, we are looking for a solution to the problem of faculty recruitment at the IIMs. We should be able to submit the report in the next 15 days. We know it's not easy to attract quality faculty in the country at present. The report will look at recruiting and retaining faculty members beyond paying them well,” said a member of the committee on condition of anonymity.
At present, the seven IIMs have around 400 full-time faculty members and need another 60 of them. With four new IIMs to come up in the first phase (2010-2011), another 250 faculty members would be required. IIMs meet less than five per cent of India's need for management education. They not only generate qualified faculty for their own needs but also for other management institutes.
“There are not enough teachers being produced. It’s because after an MTech, you spend 4-7 years doing PhDs. Wage differential for PhD students are massive and the degree is time consuming. Through this committee we would find solutions to the same,” the member added.
Incidentally, Balakrishnan's team comprises one of the three groups formed by the Ministry of Human Resource and Development to look into critical issues of governance, faculty and funding that IIMs face.
The task force on governance is headed by Maruti Suzuki India Chairman R C Bhargava, while the group on funding of IIMs is headed by Hari Bhartia, co-chairman and managing director of Jubilant Organosys and president of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII). The other two groups, however, are expected to take some more time to submit their reports.
"We will meet within the next fortnight to discuss the issue. The report would be submitted next month. We would be looking to raise funds for the IIMs from their alumni network and the management development programmes (MDPs) that they conduct. The industry is used to paying market driven prices and the IIMs could look at charging market driven price from the industry for their academic services," Hari Bhartia told Business Standard.
Meanwhile, R C Bhargava said his committee would take some more time to submit the report as the members were still discussing the issue. The committee members said bulk of the recommendations would be on the same lines as mentioned in IIM Review Committee. The committee was also chaired by Bhargava in October 2007.
However, the report of the IIM Review Committee —submitted in September 2008 — had not gone down well with the IIMs. Bhargava had suggested the creation of a pan-IIM board, mentoring of the new IIMs by the older ones and judicious use of land (by having faculty and their relatives living in nearby places rather than on the campuses itself). The IIMs had feared that too many recommendations would dilute their power.
IIM-A's governing board had 'rejected' the recommendations of the Bhargava Committee and protested the creation of a Pan-IIM board. They reasoned that splitting the board in two will create a dichotomy between those who set the policies and those implementing them.
“If the board is split in two -- the Pan-IIM board which will strategise and the other board which will implement the policy, there will be a dichotomy between them. If there’s no performance, who is to be held accountable?. At present, a single board takes care of every detail and can be held accountable for non-performance,” Samir Barua had earlier told Business Standard.
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