The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have been in the news recently, especially the IIM, Ahmedabad (IIMA) for the fee-hike that it has announced for its flagship post-graduate programme from Rs 4 lakh to Rs 11.5 lakh—virtually trebling its fees. Yet, the brand is such that people will practically kill to get through the common admission test to gain entry into the IIMs.

As the implementation of the Supreme Court ruling upholding the 27% reservation for the OBCs in central universities and institutions of excellence like the IIMs and the IITs, is expected to be staggered, due to infrastructure constraints, these institutions are bracing themselves for the intake. Already, the Common Admission Test (CAT) results for IIMs are getting held back for accomodating OBC candidates.

IIMA, with an initial collaboration with the Harvard Business School, has gradually emerged from being one of India’s premier management institutes to one of the finest international schools of management. The strength of IIMA happens to be its faculty.

At present, the institute has over 80 full-time faculty members.

Despite this number, the institute is facing a faculty crunch. “Faculty crunch is now a global phenomenon,” says Samir K Barua, the director of IIMA, but adds that the faculty crunch is not affecting the institute adversely. “To deal with it we are relying on the visiting faculty, and we also invite our alumni to teach here,” he says.

Originally spread over 67 acres, IIMA has recently added another 39 acres to its campus. The new campus, connected to the old by an underpass, houses an international management and convention centre, among other facilities.

On expansion, Barua says, “Can a reputed institute expand retaining the same quality of education? We know the industry needs more professionals and we want to expand, but unless we solve the faculty issue at the macro level, we just cannot.”

IIMA is among the few self-sustaining institutes as far as money is concerned. For the past four years, the institute has not taken any money from the government, claimed Barua. “A responsible 25-year-old boy will not take money from his parents to sustain himself. IIMA was established 47 years ago. We generate resources from various programmes like executive training and advisory services, and we sustain ourselves,” he says.

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Published & Courtesy : ahmedabad.clickindia.com

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