Admissions waitlists at the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) may be better managed during the upcoming season with the IIM directors agreeing towards closer cooperation in admissions at a meeting with the Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal in New Delhi today.
Earlier, the idea of the IIMs conducting a common interview process on the lines of the Indian Institutes of Technology had been floated for discussion between the IIM directors. However at the meeting, which was attended by the directors of 12 out of the 13 IIMs, Minister of State for HRD Dr D Purandeshwari and key administrative officials of the ministry, it was decided that the admissions process of each IIM was ‘sacrosanct’ and therefore a common admission policy did not make sense.
“In order to ease pressure on students and assist the new IIMs in their admission processes it was decided that the IIMs would share their admission information and co-ordinate their counselling systems,” said Kapil Sibal while speaking to mediapersons after the meeting.
“The IIMs have already been collaborating in terms of sharing infrastructure for the purpose of admission interviews. This year, the older IIMs might share their final admission lists with the newer IIMs so that the newer IIMs can manage their waitlists better and reduce stress on applicants,” the director of an IIM who had attended the meeting but did not wish to be named told PaGaLGuY.
“Every three years there would be an external review of each IIM so that any inadequacies could be identified and corrected,” Sibal said. The meeting reviewed the progress of the establishment of the six new IIMs at Rohtak, Ranchi, Raipur, Trichy, Udaipur and Kashipur and observed that the land acquisition issues for all the new IIMs had been resolved. The directors of five of the six new IIMs were in place while the selection process for the Director of IIM Kashipur was at an advanced stage.
On the issue of implementing autonomy to the IIMs, the meeting was informed that the revised Memoranda of Association and Rules of Ahmedabad and Indore had been finalized while those of Bangalore, Lucknow and Kozhikode were underway.
The directors of the IIMs at Calcutta, Lucknow and Kozhikode indicated that the annual work plan system and teaching requirements along with faculty peer review had been put in place at their institutes. IIM Bangalore’s director informed that the process of devising a faculty review system was being consulted on.
Sibal also approved a scheme for enhancing research in the IIMs and increasing the output of PhDs from each of the existing IIMs. A sum of Rs 95 crore had been earmarked to help the IIMs generate an additional 100 PhDs. IIM Bangalore offered to lead the discussion on bringing out a quarterly journal of the IIMs showcasing their research activity. IIM Calcutta and Kozhikode jointly offered to organize an international conference in India bringing together leading international management thinkers to learn from global experiences.
The HRD ministry also asked the IIMs to jointly devise a plan for upgrading their hostel facilities to a world-class level for attracting foreign students. “In order to build diversity on campus and attract international students without affecting the national intake, it was decided that IIMs could jointly organize an international roadshow pooling their resources for the purpose,” said Sibal.
The minister also asked the IIMs to conduct programmes in areas such as energy management, academic institution management, health management and agriculture management.