Top B-schools brainstorm fallout of IIM Bill

Over 50 management institutes met in Delhi to discuss strategy

Around 50 top B-schools offering management courses on Saturday discussed the fallout of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bill, 2017, which allows the IIMs to award degrees to their students.

The management schools that attended a meeting organised by the Education Promotion Society for India (EPSI) in New Delhi are only allowed to offer post graduate diplomas in management (PGDM) to their students.  These schools decided to seek a level playing field with the IIMs.

The non-IIM B-schools are seeking degree-granting power from the human resource ministry since they fear passing of the IIM Bill will lead to recruiters and foreign partners questioning the validity of diplomas.

However, before approaching the government, EPSI will invite views from the over 500-odd non-IIM B-schools.

“The meeting was to understand that if IIMs go on to offer MBAs and PGDM institutions continue to offer diplomas then what will be the impact. There is some kind of inequality that will be created. This meeting was to find out what could be the possible implications,” said Atish Chattopadhyay, director of IMT Ghaziabad, one of the EPSI members present at the meeting.

An official in the human resource ministry said the government was aware of the issue and would pursue the matter once approached by management schools. "It is a policy issue and the government will weigh all options before arriving at any conclusion," the official said.

Among the views discussed at the meeting, the B-schools explored the possibility of a separate board for management education that covered even the IIMs.

“There should have been certain criteria set based on which management institutes would have been granted autonomy and degree-granting powers. The government should not be discriminating on the basis of ownership but on the basis of quality,” the members discussed, as stated by Chattopadhyay.

EPSI comprises over 500 private institutions, including XLRI, MDI, SPJIMR, IMT and KJ Somaiya and BIMTECH.

The education body would take a “collaborative approach” with the government on the issue, said Chattopadhyay. “We will look at ways in which the institutions and government can work together in furthering the cause of quality management education.  This can be a good brand-building exercise for India,” he added.