IIM B Faculty Displeased By the Seat Sale Proposal

Bangalore: The Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM-B) faculty is has debated the merits and demerits of recommendations made by the government-appointment RC Bhargava committee. As per the sources, the debate took place during a meeting conducted on Thursday i.e. on January 21, 2011.

The committee as a part of one of its recommendations has proposed to allow all IIMs to put their managing society membership on sale. The committee has recommended collection of considerable donations from corporate institutions and alumni to be appointed as members of the IIM society. The panel suggested that the membership fee for corporate bodies be Rs20 crore, ex-students Rs 3 crore and other individuals Rs 5 crore.

However, IIM faculty has raised apprehensions over their managing society seats going on sale. According to the faculty, it would have disastrous effect on the credibility of IIMs as independent bodies. Recently, the faculty members of IIM-Calcutta had strongly opposed the recommendations to put their managing society seats on sale.

The proposal has been mooted by a government-appointed committee, headed by former Maruti Udyog Chairman and IIM-Ranchi Board Chairman RC Bhargava. In addition, other members attending the meeting were Pankaj Chandra, IIM Calcutta Director Sekhar Chaudhuri, IIM Kozhikode Director Debashis Chatterjee and Subhash Dhar, a Board Member of IIMB. Prof Pankaj Chandra, Director of IIMB and Prof Trilochan Sastry, Dean (academics), IIMB also attended the meeting.

Moreover, the panel has recommended “suitable ways of recognizing the donations”, such as naming buildings after donors. However, the teachers of IIMs feel that this would lead to backdoor entry of students into the top-B schools of the country. The panel has also proposed to replace the director’s post with that of CEO. The faculty members of IIMs have also expressed reservation to the point made by the panel that makes it compulsory for professors to dedicate 160 hours for teaching every year.

Besides, the meeting has deliberated issues regarding grading of faculty members of IIMB on the basis of their performance. Each IIM is registered as a society, with members who are nominated by the government and may change from time to time.

(Source: http://www.business-standard.com)