Shiksha Opinion: Are we ready for more IIMs?

Indian Institute of Management (IIM) is the first name which comes to the mind for most people on hearing the term MBA in India. Afterall, most students know that MBA is really beneficial to their careers.

Among the IIMs, IIM Ahmedabad is referred to as the best MBA institute in India while IIM Calcutta is the oldest, having been established in 1961. The other IIMs too figure on the list of the top B-schools. In the last 5 years alone, 6 new IIMs have been added to the list.

Today, there are 13 IIMs across the country. In the Union Budget 2014, six more IIMs were announced. But we at Shiksha have raised this point: Are we ready for more IIMs?

Our main reason behind raising the issue again, is the prevailing condition of the six newer IIMs – Rohtak, Ranchi, Raipur, Tiruchirappalli, Kashipur and Udaipur – which were established in 2010-11. The announcement was made with full gusto at that time, but their working could never match up to the initial enthusiasm. It was found that the new IIMs have still not received some of the basic requirements that are enjoyed by older IIMs.

Stated below are the problems faced by the newer IIMs:

Campus and Infrastructure

The newer IIMs still don’t have their own land for the campus. The four year old IIM Ranchi is still functioning in two floors of a building, in a temporary campus. IIM Ranchi is not alone in its suffering. IIM Udaipur has its campus land stuck in a legal case while IIM Rohtak recently got land to build its campus. Not having a permanent campus leads to infrastructural limitations. Due to less space and area, fewer benefits can be enjoyed by this new lot of IIMs as compared to the older IIMs.

Faculty

The suggested ratio of faculty members to students at IIMs has to be 1:10. That means for every 10 students there must be one educator. The older IIMs are still capable of fulfilling this criteria, but the newer IIMs are lagging far behind. Most of the new IIMs are yet to fill the positions of various faculty. The number of permanent faculty at IIM Ranchi is just 12, while that for IIM Trichy is 19 and IIM Raipur is 25.

One of the main reasons behind non-availability of faculty members is lack of permanent campus. According to IIM Rohtak director P Rameshan, "Choosing the right location is very important. There should be rail and air connectivity and industrial proximity. There are so many factors that depend on the land. The most important is getting faculty -- they need an incentive to apply. Most of their spouses work and schools for their children are a major factor, the location should ensure these facilities are in place to attract faculty."

Placements

IIMs are known for their 100 per cent placement record. Top companies from within India as well as abroad pick most of their newer and best recruits from these institutes. Most MBA aspirants join these institutes because of the quality campus placements along with high placement packages offered. But the newer IIMs still have a long way to go in this department. Some IIMs still find it difficult to get the entire class placed. This has reduced the interest of potentially talented students to apply for admission to these institutes.

Also, frequency of visits from top companies for placements is much lower. Thus, placement in the six new IIMs take place once a year.

The director of IIM Kashipur, Gautam Sinha, says, “I cannot ask a company to visit my campus twice for different sets of placements. Along with the difficult economy, the location and tag of being a new IIM make placements difficult."

Number of seats

The number of available student seats in the newer IIMs is limited. The reason behind such fewer number of available seats is the small campus and non-availability of land to expand the buildings and infrastructure. Even though the institutes are advocating for increase in the number of seats, they are unable to take any action over the same.

The Director of IIM Ranchi, Anindya Sen, says that getting a 150 – 200 acres of land is not an easy task. “Getting so much land is not a joke. The new government has promised to give us land. We don't plan to increase seats due to the space crunch,” he said.

Dilution of brand IIM

The brand value of IIM is getting diluted with the increase in the number of IIMs. The institute garnered its popularity due to its reputation of providing quality education along with having the best faculty on board. The newer IIMs are unable to fill in these big shoes. For a brand to retain its image, it has to continue providing the same quality as well. But with the increase in the number of colleges, the quality of education is decreasing.

"Across the world, education is a state subject. Only in India, the Centre has made it's way into it, making it a concurrent subject. The Centre should exclusively focus on primary and secondary education, because that is directly linked to public good. It does not have the luxury of spending a lot on higher education. Therefore, higher education should be opened up to the private sector. Foreign investments should be encouraged. Privatisation is much better than opening IIMs and IITs in every state. That will create good institutes and coordinate the development of a national education system," says Suma Damodaran, professor of Economics at XLRI Jamshedpur, to Shiksha.com.

To conclude, establishing more IIMs isn’t a bad thing necessarily; however, it needs to be ensured that the newer projects will be able to maintain and retain the values the older IIMs stand for. We suggest additional new IIMs should only be set up only if all the existing ones are fully equipped with all the basic facilities and infrastructure.

New IIMs should not be built at the cost of decreasing the quality of education. The teacher-student ratio should be maintained to provide quality education. Also, facilities that are meant for students should not be compromised for any reason. If an institute is capable of providing all the facilities and amenities that are meant for development of a student and future business leader, only then should it come up as an education provider.

Hemanta Kumar Pradhan, finance and economics professor at XLRI Jamsedhpur says "Focus should not be on building more IITs and IIMs. There's a need to strengthen quality of university system which is present across the length and breadth of the country. Lack of quality faculty and research makes these universities weak. Also, many business houses are getting into higher education sector, taking advantage of CSR route. It will be good to channel these investments into existing universities and create some model of collaboration or industry interface / partnership."