IIM-A to hike fees of PGP & PGPX programmes

 A total of 12 committee members met at the IIM-A campus to discuss on issues relating to the fee structure, faculty, accredition, and need based scholarships among others.  Speaking on whether the admissions to be announced on April 12 will see OBC candidates included, Singhania said, "This is a complex issue and consists of two parts.  If the institute takes the OBC students, it would be a violation against the supreme court and may cause legal problems.  But on the other hand if we dont, OBC students could take up a case for wrongful rejection".  He also added that he intends to communicate with the HRD ministry on the matter.

Bakul Dholakia, director, IIM-A, confirmed that till they receive a directive from the HRD Ministry, the admissions this year would be no different than those conducted in 2006, which effectively means no quota for OBC students as of now.

The board meeting also saw the creation of a new initiative to encourage quality research from the faculty.  The board has divided top research journals and publications into two categories depending on its international recognition.  Faculty members who get their research papers published in category A would be eligible for a cash incentive of Rs 5,00,000 while those getting them published in the other category would receive Rs 2,00,000.  Need-based scholarships, for which Rs one crore is financed by the internal resources of the institute would also see a rise this year.

In 2006, IIM-A had applied for the EQUIS accredition, for which its candidature has been accepted and will now be eligible for the accredition process which normally takes atleast 18 months to complete. Meanwhile, London-based Economist Intelligence Unit (EUI) has ranked IIM-A in the top 12 mangement schools in the world for its mangement development or executive programme making it the only Asian school in the top list.

The institute's proposed tie-up with Essec Business School of Paris for a dual MBA is due between August to October in 2007, added Dholakia.