The IIMs need to expand but their bubble might just go bust

The Supreme Court ruled and the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have got cracking on admitting more students. IIM Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has recently announced that the batch size will increase from 318 to 407 in next years admissions. IIM Calcutta (IIM-C) had gone for a big increase in seats for this years admissions itself. These numbers are heartening but increasing batch intake by 54 percent in two years time will definitely be an exercise in management for the IIMs.

As was pointed out in an earlier article, IIM Kozhikode which increased intake by 23 percent in this years admissions has encountered problems with infrastructure. Students admitted to IIM-C this year also got a crash course in space management at the institute which among the IIMs has the largest batch size of 408 students. Along with infrastructure issues, the IIMs will also have recruit new faculty to ensure that a good teacher-student ratio is maintained. Prof Samir Barua, IIM-A Director has admitted that the faculty crunch is a grave issue and needs to be given serious attention. Faculty at the IIMs still havent received the benefits of the sixth pay commission and this will definitely work against the chances of recruiting new faculty.

IIM-C is planning on a Rs 200 crore expansion plan to expand infrastructure. However, the institute should have known that the quota implementation would put a strain on existing infrastructure. The course fee for the flagship management program has more than doubled and gone up to Rs nine lakhs from Rs four lakhs. The institute claims that the fee increase was necessary in order to make up for the cost of operations. It would only have been fair for the institute to provide better facilities for this year’s batch.

Six new IIMs are supposed to be functioning from next year onwards and after a lot of resistance; the existing IIMs decided that they would mentor the new institutes. It will be interesting to see how the IIMs guide the new IIMs and ensure that they start functioning from 2010. The IIMs are facing difficulties in their expansion plans and it is important that they be guided properly whether if the new IIMs are to be operational from next year onwards.

The IIMs and IITs are Indias pride as far as education is concerned. Given the demand for quality higher education, there is obviously a need to increase seats and establish new institutes. It is important that this be done in a systematic and efficient manner. Else well be left ruing what we had and wonder what might have been. And that will be a pity, a real pity.