Autonomous B-schools want level playing field

Academicians say the biased MBA Bill would disrupt the equilibrium of management education system in India

Autonomous business schools have said that there should be a level-playing field for IIMs and other management institutes with respect to awarding MBA degrees.  In the business school summit organised by Indian Association of Autonomous Business Schools (IAABS), academicians said that the ‘biased’ MBA Bill would disrupt the equilibrium  of management education system in India since it does not provide a level-playing ground for private autonomous management institutes.

The draft IIM Bill 2015 proposes to grant statutory status to the 13 existing IIMs at Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Indore, Kozhikode, Shillong, Raipur, Ranchi, Rohtak, Kashipur, Tiruchirappalli and Udaipur. It aims to declare them as 'Institutions of National Importance' to enable them to grant degrees to their students.

The speakers in the conference said that with this bill government has gone against its own decades- long policy of encouraging PGDM institutes  evolve as beacons of excellence. Karnataka Association of Autonomous Business Schools (KAABS) also joined hands to fight for the cause.  

The summit by IAABS Chaired by Fr. E Abraham S.J., Director, XLRI- Xavier School of Management and President of IAABS . The founding institutions include XLRI, MDI-Gurgaon, IMT- Ghaziabad, XIME- Bangalore, TAPMI- Manipal, BIMM-Pune & PSG – Coimbatore. IAABS - Indian Association of Autonomous Business Schools was formed to establish a network of PGDM-Autonomous Management Institutions to contribute to the development of management education in all aspects

“Of late, considerable concern has arisen among private, autonomous PGDM schools in regard to the possible promulgation of the IIM Blll – 2015.  In this context, many private PGDM schools have been examining the possible ramifications if IIMs are allowed to grant MBA degrees," Abraham said.

Currently, state-run IIMs as well as privately owned B-schools such as XLRI- Jamshedpur, BIMTECH- Greater Noida and MDI- Gurgaon among others grant postgraduate diplomas in management (PGDM), not degrees. If the IIM-MBA bill allows IIMs to grant degrees, academicians say that it will put the premier private B-Schools at a distinct disadvantage.

Adding to this, J. Philip, President XIME & Former Director IIM B said that while they have no special view on the Government’s initiative to give degree granting rights to the IIMs, it should not in any way adversely affect the operation of the PGDM schools, which have served the nation so eminently and eloquently all these years.

He also said that the employability of PGDM graduates would at least be twice as much as that of MBA graduates from the university system.