The Hindu Business Line : IIMA maintains status quo on fee; to provide need-based scholarship

THE Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) has reiterated what the other IIMs have done in the recent days by announcing a status quo on its annual fee of Rs 1,58,350.

The IIMA has also decided to maintain status quo in another area by refusing to take any Government aid this year as well, thus making it clear that its autonomy remained undiluted.

Briefing the media after a board of governors meeting and the IIMA Society meeting, Mr N.R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman of the IIMA Board of Governors, said a need-based scholarship will be provided to students from families with an annual income below Rs 2 lakh.

The scholarship will be integrated with the admission system where it could become the first option of financially needy students. Though IIMA had earmarked Rs 25 lakh in the previous academic year towards financial assistance, it was one of the less preferred options, with even financially needy students opting for bank loans. A large portion of the scholarship fund was not utilised last year, Mr Murthy said.

"IIMA has raised the annual fund for the scholarship from Rs 25 lakh last year to Rs 1 crore. The entire amount would come from internal resources. It has also been decided that the prevailing fee structure would be maintained to ensure there was no financial burden on the Government. At the same time, IIMA would maintain its autonomy," Mr Murthy said.

IIMA was financially strong and hence would not avail of the Government grant in 2004-05. This is not new, as IIMA had not asked for the grant in 2003-04 as well, he said. Institutes of higher learning should not depend on subsidy, as these funds should be reserved for more pressing requirements such as primary education, he said.

The previous Government proposed that the IIMs sign an MoU as a precursor to the Government grant that was to be released on March 31, 2003. The IIMA Board of Governors had decided against signing the MoU despite the threat of stoppage of financial aid from the Government. It is understood that there were several restrictive clauses in the MoU, making it mandatory for the Government to clear all new programmes.

Prof Bakul Dholakia, Director, IIMA, said there was no proposal to take back the decision of the institute to the HRD Ministry for approval. This should mark the end of the deliberations on issues relating to fee and autonomy, he said, indicating that curtains could soon fall on the pending PIL before the Supreme Court on the issues.

Programme for managers

The IIMA will flag off a post-graduate management programme for practising managers from April 2006.

According to Prof Dholakia, the one-year course would will only those managers who can be spared for a year by their employers.

"The course would commence by April 2006 and would target candidates who have 7-10 years management experience. The course would target 40-70 executives each year. Similarly, the IIMA would soon be setting up a centre for excellence in health services, primarily targeting research and training," Prof Dholakia said.

The IIMA has already taken a step in this direction in the coming academic year by offering three new courses - Hospital Services, Insurance and Health Infrastructure. Both the projects will be housed in the new IIMA campus, he said.

Earlier, Mr Murthy said that the IIMA would be happy to help set up a new IIM in the North-East as proposed by the Minister for HRD, Mr Arjun Singh. This would not include financial aid but involve exchange programmes of faculty and students, he said. However, there was no decision to set up any satellite IIMs, Mr Murthy added.