As Bill gets passed in Rajya Sabha, IIMs prepare to offer degrees

Bill, which awaits President's nod, declares IIMs as institutes of national importance, vests degree granting powers

Now that the Rajya Sabha has passed the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bill, the premier B-schools are readying themselves to grant degrees. The Bill, which will be promulgated into an Act under the Parliament once the President of India signs it, declares the 20 IIMs as institutes of national importance, thereby vesting upon them degree-granting powers.

Unlike currently when IIMs offer post graduate diplomas in management and research fellowships, under the IIM Bill they will be able to offer masters degrees such as MBA as well as PhDs.

According to directors of some of the top IIMs, while there is some more clarity awaited from the ministry of human resource development (MHRD), the premier institutes will begin to take necessary steps to prepare themselves to operate as per the provisions under the Act. Given that the next batch comes in by June 2018, most of the IIMs are confident of implementing the same by then.

"As per academic activity, there is not much that we will have to change. What is registered under the IIM Society will now be registered under an Act of the Parliament. And as a consequence of that, we will now be offering MBA and PhDs as against PGDMs and fellow programmes. We will continue to do the same," said Saibal Chattopadhyay, director of IIM Calcutta.

Currently, IIMs are separate autonomous bodies registered under the Societies Act and are not authorized to award degrees. As a result, they have been awarding postgraduate diploma and fellow programme in management. While these awards are treated as equivalent to MBAs and PhD, respectively, the equivalence is not universally acceptable, especially for the fellow programme.

The Bill also empowers the Board at IIMs on several fronts including the appointment of chairpersons and directors unlike until now when the appointments happen through Appointments Cabinet Committee (ACC) chaired by the Prime Minister.

According to G Raghuram, director of IIM Bangalore, while the MHRD will now have to come up with certain rules, once the Bill is promulgated into an Act, each of the IIMs will also have to come up with regulations that will be placed before the Parliament for approval as well as get internal ordinances approved from each of their boards.

"The 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 the Parliament for approval. For example, major decisions such as launching a new program will be a regulation while internal decisions such as credits or grades determination for students to pass will be part of ordinances," Raghuram told Business Standard.

On the other hand, MHRD will have to come up with rules on issues such as director's term, remuneration details for external members of the coordination forum.

Under the bill, the new 19 members strong Board of Governors under the Bill will nominate 17 members from a pool of eminent persons, faculty members and alumni, while the rest two members will 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 meetings both with the ministry and internal board and decide what is best for the institute," said Chattopadhyay.

The bill provides for a Board of Governors' driven management of IIMs wherein the Chairperson and Director can be selected by the Board itself. The Bill, however, calls for greater participation of experts and alumni in the Board as well as the inclusion of women and members of Scheduled Castes/Tribes (SC/ST) in the Board.

Moreover, it also puts IIMs for further public scrutiny by providing for a periodic review of their by independent agencies, and placing the results of the same on the public domain. The Bill also calls for an annual report of the institutions to be placed in the Parliament and CAG to be auditing their accounts, which is being done currently as well.
 

WHAT THE BILL ENTAILS

• IIMs can now grant MBA degrees, PhDs

• Autonomy with the board to select chairperson and director

• As the executive body, Board of Governors will comprise 19 members

• Greater participation of experts & alumni in the boards

• Provision for inclusion of women and members from SC/ST in the board

• Provision for periodic review of the institutions’ performance by independent agencies 

• Results of periodic review to be placed in public domain

• Annual reports to be placed in Parliament