-ACNielsen ORG-Marg survey last year. The institute now receives 7,500 applications for its 300 seats, compared to 700 applications in 2000. The average annual salary for students placed through the institute has gone up to Rs 2 lakh from Rs 96,000 in 2001. What made the difference? Harivansh Chaturvedi, director, Bimtech, gives the credit to Vision 2005, an on-going benchmarking plan that was put into action in 2000. A lot of ground had to be covered, from taking student placements to beyond the Birla group , introducing new programmes, better infrastructure and so on. "The biggest challenge was to change the mindset of the management, faculty and the students," confesses Chaturvedi.
For instance, when the institute started the first post-graduate diploma programme in insurance and risk management in 2000, most thought it would not have too much to offer and will only groom insurance agents. "Today, more than 15 B-schools offer a similar course," Chaturvedi says.
Other sectoral programmes by Bimtech include a post-graduate diploma in retailing and merchandising management and a programme on entrepreneurship and family business slated to start this July.
Another limitation was geographical. Initially, the institute, established in 1988, only catered to Delhi-based students. "We realised if you cater to the local market and local needs, you ultimately become a local school." This is precisely what the director is working against.
Come July, Bimtech will shift to a fully wired, seven-acre campus in Greater Noida, complete with guest houses for international students and participants in the management development programmes (MDPs).
Funding is not a problem: Bimtech received Rs 25 crore from the Birla Academy of Art and Culture. But Chaturvedi does worry about the possibility of a fee-cut being imposed on private B-schools following the government directive on the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs).
"We have a bank loan to pay and our interest alone amounts to Rs 1.5 crore. Also, we want a surplus for our future needs. A fee-cut for private schools could mean a lot of trouble," he points out. And though he insists he stands by the Supreme Court's verdict of endorsing the Centre's decision to reduce admission fee of six IIMs (February 27), Chaturvedi adds, "No institute for higher-education can grow until it has full autonomy and has a sense of corporate social responsibility. After 10 years, there will either be global B-schools or management pathshalas."
The prediction makes even more sense when taken in the context of Chaturvedi's previous assignment: director of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). "I utilised my stay there by studying the changes in management education," he says. How do the accreditation policies of the AICTE stack up against the changing B-school environment? Do the criteria of setting up a B-school, which include a minimum full-time faculty of just seven, 15 computers and 2,000 books, still hold good?
"The rules and regulations of the AICTE were framed in 1990. So much has changed since then, but the rules haven't," agrees Chaturvedi. He reveals that only the top 100 B-schools have more facilities than those specified by the AICTE. "The rest either don't meet the norms or just about fulfil them. Political clout makes all the difference. Even an honest AICTE officer finds it tough to hold his ground," he admits.
And now the question of good faculty. Chaturvedi says all B-schools today face what he terms a "famine" of faculty. A look at the crisis: there are 950 B-schools approved by the AICTE; according to the norms, there should be at least 7,000 faculty members. The faculty strength in these B-schools adds up to only 2,000! Chaturvedi proposes that at least 25 good B-schools should be identified and supported to establish centres for faculty development to offer training to those inclined to teach management studies.
As for Bimtech's faculty requirement, the director says that the current faculty strength is 20 and the institute plans to recruit 10 more in April. At present, the faculty is paid at AICTE-grade levels, but Chaturvedi says the institute would like to pay more. That is one reason the institute is paying more attention to its MDPs, research and consulting.
