IIM Directors Meet: Javadekar Ensures Full Support to Premier B-Schools, Rise in Number of Seats Expected
Issue such as faculty shortage, IIM Bill, focus on reasearch and improving infrastructure of IIMs were also discussed.
Union Minister of Human Resource and Development, Prakash Javadekar interacted with the directors of IIMs at IIM Shillong on September 20, 2016. The interaction went on for three hours. The minister assured his complete support to the premier B-Schools. 13 directors of IIMs along with three Chairpersons of the Boards, and the other officials of MHRD attended the meeting. The issues related to IIM Bill, autonomy of the institutes, faculty shortage and need for more research and scaling up of campuses were discussed in the meeting.
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Addressing the media after the meeting, Javadekar said that it has been proposed in the meeting that certain actions are taken to increase the intake capacity of institutes from 10,000 to 20,000. The main intention of the government is to provide an opportunity to more students to be a part of the prestigious IIMs.
Apart from increasing intake, the ministry has also decided to expand the doctoral programmes to address the shortage of faculty. He also mentioned that the government has plans to implement reservation for SC/ST and Other Backward Classes in teaching jobs at IIMs. He stated that the government would not go against the provisions of the Indian Constitution.
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It was also revealed that the HRD Minister is focusing on building a relationship with IIMs. He has urged the institutes to play a more responsible role in the country by improving quality education. Some even appreciated and expressed happiness over the fact he assured full support to these B-schools, especially newer IIMs, in regard to capital requirement and mentoring.
According to sources, no concrete steps were decided upon in the meeting. The discussions were held over the issues like faculty shortage and the challenges faced by IIMs in recruiting the faculty.
The minister urged to improve the research quality at the premier B-school campuses. He also discussed the issues related to challenges faced by IIMs in attracting both domestic and international faculty. Most of the directors requested a copy of the draft bill. However, the Minister said that the Bill will first be sent to the parliament for approval, and hence cannot be shared.
One of the directors of older IIMs stated that the meeting was held in a positive manner where discussions were held on anonymity to IIMs. Conversations took place and discussions about probable measures to improve the quality of research in order to transform IIMs as world class institutes were the highlights.