IIM-A faculty regrets lack of communication with MHRD

Functional autonomy is crucial for institutes to retain excellence

Faculty members of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) feel the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) has not been communicated properly that the stakeholders are in agreement on the ministry's objective for calling for a fee cut.

In a presentation before the IIM-A Society meeting on Friday, the faculty stressed on the essentially of functional autonomy for IIMs to retain excellence.

"We (the faculty and the ministry) differ in our understanding on what is an appropriate solution to fulfill the objective (for a fee cut). Faculty members also believe perhaps consultative process has not been taken forward in this issue and perhaps we have failed in adequately communicating and sensitising MHRD about our governance and decision making processes evolved over several years," said the presentation.

Borrowing a popular phrase from Bollywood movie, Munnabhai MBBS, the faculty presentation said: "May be we missed experimenting with 'Jadoo ki Jhappi." In the movie, the phrase was used to suggest that medication alone cannot heal a patient from his suffering "" what is required is 'a warm hug'.

On the debate whether autonomy of the institute (and other IIMs) has got dented, the presentation pointed out that the autonomy got dented because of the ministry's attempt to reduce the corpus of the institute, besides other reasons.

"The ministry has ordered that the fee be set at Rs 30,000 without going through the steps of time-honoured consultative process. It has unilaterally shut doors for alternate ways to achieve the intended social objective. Ministry officials threaten dismissal of members of Society, Board and the director," said the presentation.

It also said that the autonomy got dented with the ministry asking IIMs to manage with lesser teachers without taking into account the impact on activity mix and the quality of the institute's educational programmes.

Saying that the fees should be on the lines of costs per student, the presentation mentioned instances of poor students studying at IIM-A on scholarships without having any hassle. "A lady student about to return home for lack of funds and the daughter of a school teacher in a tribal area in a north-eastern state have got scholarships to cover their costs for studying in IIM-A.

"There is also an instance of a son of a single parent working as a dishwasher and floor cleaner studying in IIM-A with the help of scholarship schemes," said Indira Parikh, Dean of IIM-A.

Faculty members also mention that scholarships are given for meeting the expenses of stitching a suite, traveling to home or laundry and even for making phone calls.

The presentation advocating for charging fees at per cost, also said that functional autonomy is essential for IIMs, if they are to retain and enhance their capacity for excellence and such functional autonomy is not possible without financial independence.