Student's corner

Should IIMs also get a Council on the similar lines of IIT Council?

Dear Students,
 
LAST WEEK WE ASKED: Do you think IIMs should also get a Council on the similar lines of IIT Council?

BEST RESPONSE

There is good reason why a centralized IIM council may not be a bad idea. The older IIMs have been funded by taxpayers and the newer ones continue to receive financial support from the government. It makes sense for the government to monitor the funds. Also, there is a need for the older IIMs to help the newer ones through faculty exchange, exchange of ideas and joint research. After all, the proposed IIM Council will be a coordinating body and a forum to discuss which would be like the IIT Council which has its real power to coordinate every activity.

- Pratik Bairagi, Regional College of Management, Bhubaneswar.

OTHER RESPONSES
 
Councils are formed to standardise functional aspect. It may impose a decision that will be binding hence difficult to implement. In fact IIMs have standardised process to generate revenue, conduct exam, set fee etc. Besides, different IIMs are formed with different ideologies and they have created niche in them. IIMs readily modify their syllabus as per industry need without much bureaucratic rigmarole. Thus IIMs require more of autonomy then any regulatory measure so as to emerge as world class institution.

- Nilaya Mitash Shanker, IIT Roorkee.

Establishing an IIM council is a welcome move, as it is high time that the resources need to be shared to allow for the emergence of the pool of IIMs into a global competing force that delivers the best quality students, confer the IIMs with the degree-awarding status and facilitate external peer review by the Industry experts apart from the in-house review which are both compromised in IIMs unlike the IITs, as of now. Meanwhile, it is equally important to ensure that the autonomous powers with the IIMs are not posed to any threat in this course of action.

- YVS Karthik, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Mohali, Punjab.

The move to form a governing council for IIMs is a good step. As we know that an IIT council is already present which looks after the functioning of all the IITs and although an IIT council is present we don’t see any problem faced by the IITs in providing quality education to the students. So an IIM council will facilitate better co-ordination among the IIMs without any hindrance to their autonomous functioning and their goal to provide quality management education. Also they will be able to offer degrees rather than diplomas after the bill gets passed.

- Mohit Marakna, MS University, Baroda.

In this world every one want autonomy but who are not able to compete with others then they need some networking and guidance. IIM-A is competing to global top management institute in the world, but other IIMs, especially new IIMs are far behind to global institutes. So for these institute it is required a combination of greater industry experts, IIM officials and government bodies. But in this interference of bureaucrats should be very less and maximum representation should be from industry and IIM officials. So IIMs should also get a council.

- Sumit Sourav, Regional College of Management , Bhubaneswar.

The Council for IITs is meant to govern them combined as a whole towards the ulterior motive of maintaining their superb quality. While IIMs currently have been operating individually so far and have produced the best results possible. So there seems to appear no apparent reason to go for a change. Even if council is worked upon for IIMs, it might not serve any purpose rather be a hindrance in their supremacy. The management of IIMs is self competent in governing themselves verily visible from the outcome. Thus, it would be completely nonsensical to think for an IIM council.

- Shivam Chhabra, Integral University, Lucknow.

The cost of MBA from IIM which is priceless has become three times expensive in past 5 years. Is this a new criterion for selections in IIMs? IIMs have changed their selection process which led to decreased transparency and increased discrepancy. Each IIM has its own selection methodology despite having same CAT exam. Many a times this results into unfair selections. New IIMs are struggling for their identities with poor infrastructures and poor placements as compared to its peers. A council on similar lines to IITs is needed to stop the monopoly of old IIMs.

- Rishabh Diwakar, School of Petroleum Management , Gandhinagar.

 
As both these esteemed institutions are very different in their approach. Both the institutes should not be compared. IIT council takes decisions for all the IITs which works since all the programs on offer are structured with very little differentiation. But at IIMs, each IIM is different from other, in their curriculum, faculty and infrastructure. Since management education is unstructured its best to leave the IIM's alone for their governance. It would be appropriate if all IIM form a unified body to only interact , this would greatly help the newer IIM’s to grow and come at par with legends.

- Durgesh Gangwar, School of Petroleum Management Gandhinagar.

The basic purpose of forming a council for IIMs is to streamline the activities and education provided at these premier institutes. The formation of such a council will enable the IIMs to hand out degrees and doctorates which will encourage research-oriented people getting into IIMs. The knowledge sharing among the IIMs will increase resulting in enhanced learning experience for the students and evolved managers for the corporate world. However the present concern of compromise on the autonomy of IIMs has to be addressed on a priority basis and autonomy has to be upheld at any cost.

- Shivang Ganatra, IIM Ranchi.

IITs, in spite of being under council for years now, have managed to keep a good growth rate. IIMs, which are prominently denying from council, are supposedly afraid of autonomy dilution. But thinking beyond that aspect, there are numerous advantages of getting a council, from both student and IIMs perspective. Significant among them are: uniformity in knowledge transfer, controlling of fees structure (which is rampant otherwise), ability to offer masters’ degrees and doctorates, instead of diplomas and fellowships. Contrary, I also appreciate demand of IIMs to prune the number of bureaucrats and increase concentration of industry representatives in the council.

- Tushar Shah, School of Petroleum Management, PDPU, Gandhinagar.

Centralised IIM council will provide all 13 IIMs umbrella type of governing body which should look-after overall administration and will be common strategic decision making authority for IIMs. Council will allow more government directors on IIM board  ensures more qualitative decision making and with managed government intervention , autonomy of IIMs kept Intact. IIM Council should make sure that older IIMs are helping newer ones. Council will also monitor the funds of new IIM’s, which receives financial support from government. The similar model of network of institution under single umbrella has been successful in European countries.

- Sarang Dani, Vishwakarma Institute of Management, Pune.

The main motive to set-up such a council was to centralise the administration of all IITs and to unanimously reach common decisions applicable to all. However, ever since the period severe disputes concerning selection procedure, faculty induction have been seen and a consistent interference from the HRD Ministry has deteriorated the motive altogether. Moreover, the autonomy of IIMs will get highly encroached upon as being the PG colleges they all have a different set of academic cum administrative methodologies which cant be channelised unlike in case of IITs. What is needed is the pooling of intelligentsia and academic resources.  

- Nandish Agarwal, Galgotias College of Engineering and Technology, Greater Noida.

The IIMs should have a council of their own just as the IITs, which will govern all the 13 IIM institutes. This council shall constitute of various representatives of the respective IIM institutes alongwith their alumni which will help IIM's in their overall growth and development of the infrastructure, their academics, etc. And overcome problems faced if any.

- Kavita Oswal, Vishwakarma Institute of Management, Pune.

I believe it's high time for IIMs to get a council similar to the one which is functional in IITs. IIT council has brought all IITs together and there is less friction among them. Whereas, differences between IIMs are out in the open almost every time they meet for a discussion. In my opinion, IIM council will act as a glue to bind all the IIMs together and it is very much necessary to have an IIM council.

- Vidwaita Sachan, Xavier Institute of Management & Entrepreneurship (XIME), Bangalore.

All the IIMs are at different stages of growth and each one has created a niche for themselves. In all there are 13 IIMs and if the council is formed, the decision will bind all the institutes and outcome will be very rigid. A council like the IIT may try and impose uniform standards through a collective decision and that could be a problem. If the council is formed it could harm the autonomy and flexibility enjoyed by IIMs. The council formed will be controlled by the council members and it could even harm the institute as a whole.

- Lokesh Pravin Jain, Vishwakarma Institute of Management, Pune.

In order to compete globally among best B schools, its time for IIMs to leverage its fragmented resources..Today the IIMs are operating in a scatter environment and there is a partial disconnect between the workings of IIMs. A council can connect the missing dots between the IIMs and helps in leveraging the resources.A new council will track the performance of IIMs and help them monitoring their pace with the change in the current environment.

- Harsh Mehta, St. Kabir Institute of Professional Studies, Ahmedabad.

Your responses should reach us at edu@business-standard.com by Monday evening every week. Please ensure that your responses do not exceed 100 words. Avoid attachments and email your full name, institute's name, batch and complete mailing address. The student who gives the 'Best Response' will be awarded Rs 500.

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION:  Do you think the MHRD should not interfere with the functioning of IITs and IIMs?