Charu Sudan Kasturi
NEW DELHI: The Indian Institute Management (IIM) Ahmedabad has won a decade-long battle for autonomy, with HRD minister Kapil Sibal approving dramatic amendments to the institution's memorandum of association with the government.

The amendments that end the government's powers to handpick the director of the country's top business school and give it unprecedented financial autonomy follow a decade-long battle between the institute and successive governments.

Directors are at present short listed by a search-cum-selection committee set up by the government in coordination with the IIM's board of governors. This gives the government the opportunity to influence the selection of the candidates.

The amended MOA, which has now been sent to the law ministry for vetting before a notification is released, completely eliminates the government's role in short-listing candidates for the director's post.

From now on, the board will shortlist three candidates, while the government can only pick one from those names.

The amendment will also allow the IIM to purchase and sell assets without seeking the government's approval. This will cut through layers of red-tape that delay key acquisitions and investments planned by the IIM.

The HRD ministry has also given its nod to a proposal to increase the revenue generated for the IIM through membership of its sponsoring society. The IIM can now charge hefty donations in exchange for membership of the society.

This proposal earlier raised concern that some people might enjoy influence over the board of governors simply by buying society membership. Sibal had advised the IIM to put the proposal on hold.

But the IIM later convinced the government that only two nominees of the society are members of the board, and industrialists or individuals who join the society won't be in a position to influence key decisions.

New IIM faculty to follow 160-hour teaching rule

By Charu Sudan Kasturi
NEW DELHI : All new teachers at the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) may have to teach 160 hours a year despite faculty protests against the move and a series of other reforms proposed by two government panels.

The Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry has asked the country's new seven IIMs to implement the new criterion while hiring faculty, top government officials have told HT.

The older IIMs too have the ministry's approval in-principle to use the controversial new rule in hiring new faculty, officials said, adding that the government was clear that it had no intention of forcing any IIM to accept any reform.

“We have instructed the new IIMs to adopt this condition while hiring faculty. The older IIMs too can adopt the mechanism while hiring the new faculty,“ a senior official said. The new IIMs are completely dependent on government funding while the IIMs in Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Calcutta hardly depend on any government aid.

The new rule -the first attempt to put in place a minimum number of teaching hours for IIM faculty -will not automatically extend to the current faculty. Only if the Boards of Governors of individual IIMs approve the move, can it be applied to the older faculty, sources said.

Boards can also exempt faculty who want to focus on research and are therefore unable to teach for 160 hours a year.

Panels appointed by HRD minister Kapil Sibal under Maruti Chairman RC Bhargava and Rediff boss Ajit Balakrishnan proposed a series of changes including increasing the number of teaching hours for every faculty member at the IIMs from about 100 on average to about 160 and reducing the size of IIM Boards.

The reform proposals include dramatically changing the “ownership“ of the IIMs to make membership of the managing societies of the premier B-schools dependent on large donations, and increasing the power of Boards.

Faculty associations across the IIMs have been protesting against the proposed reforms, alleging that they would lead to backdoor privatization, erosion of autonomy, and change the fundamental governing structures that have made the B-schools the best in the country.
(Courtesy : Hindustan Times)

IIMs trash MHRD tips on teaching hours, BoG

LUCKNOW : There is a palpable unease among the faculty members of the Indian Institutes of Management who have started condemning the R C Bhargava committee report describing it as a "nonsense" and far from ground realities.

The Bhargava committee report on new governance structure and teaching load has been openly trashed by IIM Bangalore and IIM Calcutta faculties and Lucknow IIM teachers too "plan to do something about it" soon. The IIM faculty members feel that the HRD ministry-appointed committee report was based on incorrect data.

The faculty bodies at IIM-Calcutta and IIM-Bangalore have passed unanimous resolutions to set aside the reports which suggests downsizing of the IIM boards and societies and asking each faculty to teach for 160 hours a year. Other IIMs are likely to follow suit seeking broader consultation on the proposed reforms.

"We believe that these recommendations are the outcome of several wrong assumptions and incorrect data and would not allow IIMs to become global leaders. These changes, if implemented, will have a negative impact on the morale of the faculty," IIM-B faculty said in a memorandum submitted to board of governors chairman Mukesh Ambani last week. They have now called for a fresh panel involving alumni and eminent academics to create a governance structure for long-term development of IIMs.

The five-member committee headed by IIM-Ranchi chairman R C Bhargava has recommended downsizing of the IIM boards and societies by almost half, allowing corporate bodies, individuals and alumni to become members of the IIM society by paying Rs 20 crore, Rs 5 crore and Rs 3 crore respectively.

The IIM-B faculty rejected the idea, saying "this will lead to a major structural change in the ownership of IIMs and would be completely against public interest. We believe that contribution for the society should be more in the nature of developing institutions rather than owning the institutions".

The dons at the elite B-schools have also taken exception to the HRD ministry's decision to fix a minimum teaching load for faculty which will be the same for all IIMs.

Meanwhile reports from Ahmedabad said that the IIM-A will downsize its governing board from 25 members to 15. The new board will also be empowered to appoint the institute’s director which was, so far, controlled by the Ministry of Human Resource Development. These changes have been approved by the MHRD but have still to be cleared by IIM-A society. The institute also plans to open campuses in Dubai and Singapore.

Director of IIM-A Samir Barua said in a press conference on February 16 : “Many board members may not be able to contribute effectively. A large number of members with less participation reduce the effectiveness of the board’s directing of the institute. So it is better to have a lesser number of members for the board to function effectively. Studies have shown that
9 to 13 members is the most effective size.” Barua said that the final picture would be clear by the end of March.