IIM directors mulls on how make brand IIM stronger

The fourth edition of the three-day annual Pan-IIM World Management Conference began at IIM-Ahmedabad today, in which representatives of twelve IIMs discussed a host of issues including strengthening brand IIM by improving education and research output.
Among other issues discussed by representatives of twelve IIMs including directors of eleven IIMs and dean of IIM-Kozhikode were ways to improve research quality, availability of faculty across IIMs, academia-industry interface, interaction with peers of other institutions for collective research, online delivery of knowledge and constructively contribute to other educational institutions and society.
The IIMs also decided that directors of the institutes will meet twice a year for better sharing and coordination among 20 IIMs in the country.

"We discussed what have been done across IIMs, our experiences and perspectives. From this year onwards, IIMs are going to fully fund the Pan IIM conference. This conversation is extremely valuable and we will meet twice a year, to make sure we continue to learn from one another," IIM-A director Ashish Nanda told reporters after the meeting.
"We are very well regarded in teaching and have made contribution to research, but to climb to the highest level, we need to upgrade research through discussions with peers from other institutes for better collective research. We are in a position to come up with new ideas and concept that will add further to the brand IIM," said IIM-Lucknow director Ajit Prasad.

"One of the important things is how to raise quality of faculty through faculty development programme (FDP) and how to help them in research," IIM-Rohtak director Atanu Rakshit said, adding that IIMs also shared views on how to help other educational institutions by sharing their rich library resources.

"To take care of brand IIM is big responsibility. Over
time we have to ensure that education and research are of highest quality, that is the big challenge we are trying to grapple with," said IIM-Kashipur director Gautam Sinha.
"One of the main inputs on faculty issue is offering fellow programmes in management. As institutions we are offering more ways and means to discuss if we can collaborate with each other to produce more successful doctoral candidates," said IIM-Indore director Rishikesha Krishnan.

Sinha of IIM-Kashipur said his institute is taking in senior executives from industry for teaching to tide over the problem.
"We are imparting education, so we need to manage ourselves as well, and that has to be done by keeping the quality, connecting with industry, corporate, society, and take it further. One of the areas of concern is generation of new knowledge," said IIM-Shillong director Amitabh De.
IIM-A and IIM-C have also opened interaction with top institutes in their respective areas which they call "A-league" institutes, Nanda said.