IIMs to Award Degrees Soon; Lok Sabha Passes Bill Granting Autonomy

The IIM Bill 2017 aimed to grant the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) with the authority to award degrees to students has been passed by the Lok Sabha. The bill was passed on Friday, July 28, 2016, in order to grant greater autonomy to the premier b-schools of India.

The bill has been forwarded to the Rajya Sabha for approval. Once cleared, the bill will enable the IIMs to grant degrees instead of diplomas. There are 20 IIMs in India that were registered as societies under an 1860 law.

Since the institutes were not established under the Parliament Act or as a university, they don’t have the authority to grant degrees yet. After the bill is approved, the institutes will be able to award degrees like MBA and Ph.D. instead of PGDM and fellowships.

HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar shed light on the IIM Bill 2017 and said that the aim is to eliminate government interference at IIMs. He further said that we should trust our institutions and allow them to function without the intervention of joint secretaries.

Changes that IIM Bill 2017 will introduce:

• The bill also vouches for the IIMs to be considered as institutions of national importance.
• The bill will also limit the role of the HRD Minister in appointing members in each of the IIM’s board of governors. The aim is to make this procedure more transparent process.
• There will be only one government representative in the board at each college.
• The IIM visitor’s post that is currently given to the President of India will be abolished.

Javadekar was congratulated on the occasion by the opposition parties for successfully bringing the bill to floor. Amongst these were the Congress leader and Former junior HRD Minister Shashi Tharoor; Trinamool Congress leader and Educationalist Saugata Roy and CPM parliamentarian MB Rajesh.

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Tharoor congratulated the HRD Minister and said that autonomy through the IIM Bill 2017 is a welcome move. He also added that the government must have a say in deciding the fees of the programmes offered by the IIMs for the sake of the poor students.

Saugata Roy and MB Rajesh also resonated the same concerns regarding fee hike at the Indian Institutes of Management.

Javadekar clarified that the autonomy provided to the IIMs will not weaken the chances of poor students seeking admission in IIMs. He added that financial assistance will be provided to the students who come from economically weaker backgrounds and seek business education from IIMs.

Tharoor also added that the government must look into the lack of funds faced by the IIMs and must provide financial aid if necessary. He also asked to provide a clear picture for the reservation of SC and ST candidates in the faculty recruitment at IIMs.

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Further, Tharoor said that removing the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s name from IIM Shillong wasn’t appropriate. To this Javadekar replied that all IIMs must go by the brand name IIMs and there is no provision to give names to them.