'We are committed to Rs 200-cr campus expansion and remodelling project'

Q&A: Shekhar Choudhuri

IIM-Calcutta (IIM-C) has seen a 36 per cent increase in the number of students over the past two years. Shekhar Choudhuri, the institute’s director, tells Pradipta Mukherjee that the institute is making temporary arrangements to accommodate the additional number of students, while remodelling of the campus is in full swing to bring it on par with international standards and meet the increased load due to quota implementation. Edited excerpts:

How equipped is IIM-C to accommodate the OBC quota?
We have increased the number of seats for the 2009-11 session, from 304 to 407, to accommodate the additional quota seats. The Board of Governors has requested the Ministry of Human Resource Development for an increase in the number of faculty posts, too. We have 88 sanctioned faculty seats, but we have to increase it to 120 to ensure that the teacher-student ratio is maintained at 1:10. Currently, we have 81 faculty and we should be able to add another 10 by the year-end.

Construction is also on at the campus and there will be 19 new classrooms of different sizes, as well as new hostels, new classrooms for executive education programmes, conference rooms, etc. We have 108 additional students this year for whom we have provided temporary accommodation inside the campus. One of the alternatives the IIM-C authorities had considered was paying-guest accommodation. But most students said they would prefer staying in the campus.

Classes run till late in the evening and the students also have to do research at the library. So we decided not to look for accommodation outside the campus. So we remodeled some of our common rooms and other unused areas into dormitory living rooms with air-conditioners, where the additional students are being put up temporarily. One of our new hostels will be completed in November which would be able to accommodate around 168 students. The additional students will be shifted to the new hostel in December.

What are the institute’s focus areas this year?
We will focus on quality research and attracting quality to the campus, more networking with the alumni, and improving physical infrastructure at the campus. We would also provide our faculty the freedom to design new courses in sync with changing business dynamics. Another focus area this year would be executive education programmes. We are already creating more room for them on the campus so that we can accommodate more executives.

We are committed to a Rs 200-crore campus expansion and remodelling project. The investment will also take care of the 54 per cent expansion in capacity required for accommodating the 27 per cent OBC quota. We are also intent on increasing the number of research scholars passing out from the institute. We are also concentrating on international accreditation. IIM-C has sought certificates from the Association of Advanced Collegiate School of Business (AACSB).

We will also seek the European Quality Improvement System label from the European Foundation of Management Development (EFDM). International. The accreditation will help us gain better global access and aid us in forming alliances with international institutes. The accreditation will also help the institute attract more foreign students and open up increased opportunites for tie-ups with foreign universities.

Any particular support plans to encourage research projects?
For the faculty, IIM-C will extend support for research programmes, both in terms of monetary support as well as physical infrastructure. We have increased the minimum fund available for the faculty to Rs 1 lakh. The fund could eventually go up to Rs 10 lakh. Large research projects undertaken by the faculty can get funds of up to Rs 50 lakh per project.

Part of the funds for such large projects will be shared between the institute and external agencies like the World Health Organisation, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Information Technology, and others. Also, we have announced a faculty development allowance of Rs 50,000. This will help the faculty to purchase software or subscribe to any resources they would want to. For research dissemination, the faculty can attend international conferences up to three times in three years.

For students, we have increased the stipend for our PhD programme by 100 per cent, in order to attract more quality researchers to the institute. The new stipend policy will provide Rs 20,000-24,000 per month and a Rs 20,000 annual contingency grant. The students are also provided a one-time grant for field study, a laptop grant and a fully-supported international conference attendance anywhere in the world.

We are also making provisions for students to attend more international conferences. All research students should be able to attend one international conference during their term at IIM-C. On an average, more than five students attend foreign conferences a year. This year, we have already received 350 applications for fellowships, up from 150 applications last year.

Is the placements, scene likely to improve?
Companies are hiring and there are a lot of account movements already. Our summer placements should be encouraging again this year.