Mumbai: Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), in order to make education on their campuses more inclusive, have increased the size of scholarship disbursals and financial aid to needy students, even though tution fees has gone up significantly over the past few years. The IIMs have increased their fees over the past few years in an attempt to accommodate the 27% increase in the other backward caste quota and a rise in general category students on campus. However, the number of students securing financial aid has also gone up to 126 last year, from 21 in 2007.
Prashant Mishra, Chairman, PGP, IIM Calcutta said that now, the institute charges Rs 11 lakh for the two-year programme in business management; three years ago, fees were at Rs 4-5 lakh. From 2004-05 to 2007-08 , the size of financial aid each year was about Rs 20 lakh, but went up to Rs 1.8 crore in 2009-10. He also added that the financial aid allows such students to go for higher studies or start their own ventures, where remuneration might not be good. Thus, they won’t have to worry about furnishing a loan.
According to Debashish Chatterjee, Director of IIM Kozhikode, the main aim, as the institutes see it, is to make management education available to more people. Further, he said that a large section of India’s population faces not just economic deprivation but also social deprivation because they don’t get to bond with the best minds. Moreover, as per sources, at IIM Ahmedabad, the disbursal figure between 2008 and 2010 has crossed Rs 7.61 crore from Rs 5 crore in the previous two years. The institute has over 250 students in the two-year post graduate programme, who are availing of financial aid. IIM Bangalore, too, increased its disbursal from Rs 1.9 crore in 2008 to Rs 4.4 crore. However, with the loan facility, students are not required to compromise due to financial reasons.
