IIM-A Professor Questions Autonomy Need, Reignites Issue

Just when the IIMs’ relentless pleas for autonomy are finding favour in the power corridors, an insider view rekindles the decade-long debate. A senior professor at Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has questioned the need for autonomy, described as functional independence by academicians, in a book that argues government role is necessary for better accountability.

Finance professor T.T. Ram Mohan says IIMs (Indian Institutes of Management) run the risk of turning into “teaching shops” without government funds and monitoring. “It is often asked why the government cannot exit the boards of IIMs and leave things entirely to eminent professionals as it happens in the corporate world…. Any government withdrawal would create a dangerous governance vacuum with adverse implications for the very character of the IIMs,” Ram Mohan says in his soon to be published book “Brick by Red Brick”.

The arguments against autonomy are restricted to one chapter and Ram Mohan says he had expressed his views earlier as well. The book largely delves on the colourful persona and the contributions of Ravi Mathai, the first full-time Director of IIM-A, and says there has been a devaluation in the Mathai model at the institute. The book is critical of the waning faculty governance at IIM-A, powerless boards and faculty councils.

The IIMs known for attracting country’s top talent that aspires for millions-plus salaries on passing out have been lobbying hard for autonomy since a decade. The institutes argued autonomy would help them pay better salaries, attract foreign faculties and assist in setting up overseas campuses. The IIM-A was at loggerheads with the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) headed by Murli Manohar Joshi in the early part of 2000 and its then Director Bakul Dholakia put up a sustained fight against what he claimed was government interference.

During his tenure, he had several run-ins with the ministry and said in one of his media interviews: “… for institutes of higher education to excel globally, withstand the pressures of global competition, they require ideological, financial and operational autonomy”. Dholakia who now heads a private B-school did not comment on the book. The present IIM-A Director Samir Barua too has been insistent on autonomy and said in his convocation address that the institute must be free of all government controls to compete with foreign B-schools that have now been permitted entry into India.

There is a change in the ministry’s approach over the years and human resources minister Kapil Sibal has favoured more autonomy to the IIMs. Ram Mohan counters these arguments in the book. “The contention that there is a government devil out there that has smothered autonomy and that, absent this devil, IIM-A would have become truly world class, lacks substance. Over the first four decades, starting from the days of Sarabhai (founder Vikram Sarabhai) and Matthai, no director at IIM-A had any serious complaint about lack of autonomy …. The clamour for autonomy in recent years must be seen for what it is: a thinly-disguised attempt to escape the checks and balances inherent in the government system and enter a lawless paradise made possible by a dysfunctional and ineffectual board,” he adds.

Talks of autonomy within IIM-A began only eight years ago when the institute stopped accepting government grants. Ram Mohan believes to avoid government aid, IIM-A has been heavily relying on in-company training conducted by its faculty for the corporate world. This activity has been helping the institute generate a significant portion its annual revenue. It thus sees such revenues as crucial to its autonomy… Institutions that rely entirely on internally generated revenues end up as teaching shops,” he says.

“Trying to cover costs mainly through revenue-generating programmes is the road to perdition,” he says suggesting institutes should look at philanthropy and private funds to meet their requirements. The government has made “colossal investments” for more than four decades and merely not accepting funds from the government does not take the institute outside the purview of the government. An IIM-A alumni Chetan Bhagat says, “Not just the IIMs, the government in general should encourage autonomy in educational institutes…”.

Source: The Economic Times, May 16, 2011

Soon, virtual varsity for tech education

Here is good news for the students wishing to take up distance learning but apprehensive of the lesser value attached to the technical degrees obtained from these courses as compared to those from regular streams. The Centre is planning to establish a virtual university that will impart training on diverse technical areas to the undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as the newly recruited teachers through flexible, credit-based correspondence courses.

The proposed Virtual Technical University (VTU) will offer programmes in the fields of science, technology, management, architecture, pharmacy and other areas of applied knowledge. It would come up as part of the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT), an initiative of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).

“There is no question on the feasibility of the virtual university because the world is moving in that direction. We only need to implement it and though the idea has not come before the board as yet, we expect the varsity to be there in the current Plan period (2007-12),” said M. Anandakrishnan, Chairman, Board of Governors, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur.

The Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) has a virtual university that enables off-campus students to avail of the facilities offered to a normal on-campus student registered under the same programme and get a degree from BITS. “The piecemeal approach to distance learning is leading to its misuse and a quality check is needed. The education system is large enough to accept another type of distance learning model besides IGNOU (Indira Gandhi National Open University),” added Anandakrishnan.

The university will use video courses, web-based learning material and live lectures using satellite and internet-based technologies. The VTU will have a repository of video courses created by experts in the field, a website that will host learning material while live lectures will be delivered using satellite and Internet technologies. The virtual university may also have five different schools — one each on developing teaching methodology, engineering sciences, natural sciences, management sciences and human sciences.

The school of education will look at developing inner and outer strength of the individuals and their emotional intelligence while that of engineering would focus on different disciplines of engineering. The school of management sciences will look at industrial and management engineering. Human sciences like economics and humanities would be catered to by the school of human sciences. A high-powered panel set up by the ministry for faculty development in technical institutes had recommended that each school float a suitable number of courses in order to cater to the need of various disciplines associated with the school.

It was envisaged that VTU shall have at least 300 courses for the school of engineering sciences and engage a large pool of talented faculty from Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and other institutions and retired faculty.

Source: The Financial Express, May 16, 2011

IIT panel favours loan scheme for students

Proposing a steep hike in tuition fee for IIT courses, the Kakodkar Committee on the future of the premier institutes — the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) — has suggested a ‘special loan scheme’ to offset the burden, attracting no collateral and on personal guarantee of the student. “The quantum of the loan should be such that it meets at least 90% of the financial needs of students in way of payment of fees and personal and hostel expenses “in the range of Rs. 811,000 for a 4-year undergraduate programme and Rs. 580,000 for a postgraduate programme,” it has suggested.

The committee, which presented its report to HRD minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday, has proposed a tuition fee of Rs. 200,000-250,000 per student annually, up from Rs. 50,000 at present. The IIT Council would, however, take a final call on the suggestion.

The committee, headed by Anil Kakodkar, has said that “as the increase in fees would increase funding requirements for students, a special loan programme for students is recommended, which should be easily available without collateral”. The committee said the loan needs to be granted on the personal guarantee of the student without reference to the parents and without any asset backing the loan.

“It is suggested that the loan be granted along with the admission documents of IIT so that it is seamless and hassle free,” the report states. The committee referred to its discussion with the State Bank of India (SBI) on this special loan scheme. It further suggested that payment of interest should be deferred till at least six months after completion of the course.

Keeping in mind the risk involved, it also suggested that the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) create a fund called the ‘Student Loan Fund’ at the rate of 4% of the overall loan amount which will be kept in an escrow account with the bank so that the risk of default is reduced and the bank has recourse to this fund. This will also take care of any default due to students failing the course and being unable to repay the loan in the future, the report said.

The committee was set up to suggest a roadmap for the autonomy and future of the IITs as world-class institutions for research and higher learning. It has also suggested that the IITs start an aggressive drive to get endowments, scholarship grants and funds from their alumni and other donors to meet at least 10-15% of their needs on an annual basis over time and a dedicated office to collect the endowments.

Source: The Financial Express, May 16, 2011

B-schools prefer students with less work experience

If you have been working for five or more years and want to enrol for a regular MBA degree, chances are you will not get it. You stand a better chance with a part-time executive management course. Reason: B-schools prefer to take students with only 2-3 years of work experience.

This is in contrast to other countries. “Business schools in the US, the UK, Europe, Italy and other parts of the world prefer admitting students with more work experience,” says Mr. Ashish Sachde, Study Abroad Counsellor, Institute of Foreign Study, Mumbai. A major reason for Indian B-schools rejecting such candidates is the placement factor. “Recruiters do not prefer hiring students with more experience during their regular placement drives as it is difficult to mould such students,” says Mr. Sachde.

The Registrar of Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), Mr. L.D. Mago, echoes this: “When the recruiters come for hiring, they look for students who are 26 years old. For MNCs, a person above 26 years of age does not fit into the scheme of things,” he says. Mr. Saral Mukherjee who heads the placement committee at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), says: “Every recruiter comes to the campus with a mandate and has the profiles of the people the company wants to hire in mind.” Those wanting to hire more experienced persons pick them up from the executive MBA programmes, he says. Classrooms in IIM-A are a mix of freshers and those with some experience. It is rare that people with more experience have been enrolled for the regular course, he adds.

The spokesperson of the Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon, says: “The average work experience of our students is 20 months. For students with more experience we have other courses such as National Management Programme, Part-Time PGPM and Fellow Programme in Management.” The batch in IIM-Lucknow has 75 per cent students with an average work experience of 2-3 years, but there are also few students with more than four years, according to the spokesperson.

Given the stiff resistance from Indian institutes to enrol candidates with more work experience, Mr. Sachde says most have no other option but to go abroad to get their MBA degree.

Source: Business Line, May 16, 2011