Alumni pledge Rs 2 cr for IIM-A

In a huge boost to the coffers of the institute, IIM-A's alumni of the 1982 batch have decided to contribute between Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 2 crore to the PGP endowment fund to augment the payment scales of faculty from abroad as well as facilitate setting up of new chairs and increasing scholarships for the needy students.

The alumni have also made a proposal for introduction of a new course for which half of the faculty would consist of international academicians.

"Alumni of IIM-A across the world have always been active in the development of the institute and the class of 1982 has pledged its support by agreeing to contribute up to Rs 2 crore of which Rs 0.5 crore has already been deposited, " said Shailesh Gandhi, convenor of the IIM-A alumni relations cell.

The development took place after the top brass of IIM-A held a series of discussions with the former students and ex-faculty members of the institute.

The batch of 1982, represented by 105 alumni and around 20 ex-faculty members, had held its silver jubilee celebrations last week and used the occasion to put forth a list of proposals which were under the consideration of management.

The topmost on the list is funding international faculty who have largely stayed away in the past citing 'unfavourable economic models'.

Towards this end, the first initiative has already been put on course with the funding of IIM-A alumnus, Vijay Govindraj, an international strategy consultant's lectures to the PGPx students on January 10.

The IIM-A alumni trust will fund the faculty's travel and professional expenses while the institute would fund the faculty's accommodation in the campus, said Gandhi.

The fund would also be used to establish chairs and increase the corpus for providing scholarships to the needy students in the institute. Last year, the IIM-A alumni trust gave out four scholarships and with the increased corpus, the number is set to increase considerably.

"The increase in number of scholarships are required considering the increase in the intake of students from this academic year onwards, " said Gandhi.

In 2006, IIM-A had received Rs 50,000 each for four students as scholarship from the recently established IIM-A alumni trust fund and had also received an endowment of Rs 1 crore from Warburg Pincus whose Indian arm had many IIM-A alumni on board.

This amount, along with the new funds would be used over the next 10 years by the Institute to support the financial needs of students who are unable to afford fully or partially the cost of education at IIM-A.

As for the new course, the syllabus content would be divided between faculty members from India and abroad, and would focus on providing a global subject outlook.

Officials from the institute have confirmed that if implemented, the course would be independent of the proposed dual degree programme set to begin from 2007 with the Essec Business School in France.