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Our Bureau

Ahmedabad , Feb 7

THAT things were not all right between the Indian Institutes of Management and the Union HRD Ministry became evident during the days of the Common Admission Test (CAT) question paper leak in November last. Now, events have come a full circle with the Union Ministry's decision on IIM course fee reduction as it came close on the heels of another decision to roll back annual grants to the IIMs by nearly Rs 30 crore.

According to the academics of the IIM, Ahmedabad, the double strike by the HRD Ministry is aimed largely at the premier IIMs. "Evidently, the move is aimed at eroding the corpus that has been built up over the last few years by the three major IIMs (Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Kolkata). This stands at around Rs 200 crore, with IIMA alone coming good for almost half this amount," a senior professor at IIMA said. "Coming at a time when we were contemplating a fee hike, this move will certainly impact us negatively but first it needs to be established beyond debate whether the Ministry has the locus standi to announce such a course fee reduction. Given our status as an autonomous body, registered under the Societies Act, the Ministry cannot unilaterally impose its will on the IIMs though it can make recommendations. The answer could come in the shape of moving the court," he added.

Also, being brought into focus would be the issue whether the Government should concentrate on basic education and leave the onus of higher education upon individual institutions. Meanwhile, the IIMA students who have openly questioned the logic behind any fee reduction as it was already subsidised by at least 50 per cent. With a plethora of student loans available for higher studies, this should be the least of Government concerns, they say.

"The IIM fee is among the lowest in the world as percentage of the salary that the student is set to earn after completing the course. Given that an IIM student stands to earn globally comparable salaries, what is the rationale behind slashing fees to such low levels. By tinkering with the fee structure, as it seems to want do with the CAT structure, the Government may be pulling down a great institution like the IIM of its pedestal. Mediocrity will be the winner as many of the facilities now available to the IIM students may also have to be scrapped," a PGP student said.

Earlier, the IIMA Director, Prof Bakul Dholakia, had said that the issue on the validity of the HRD Ministry would have to looked into. "Revision of fees is decided by the IIM board of governors, as per convention and practice. We are looking into the various aspects of this decision. The IIMA governing board is to meet in the first week of April," he said.

Clearly, the IIMA may once again become the rallying point for the other five IIMs by taking a lead role in responding to the Government decision. However, it remains to be seen whether it will be emboldened enough to cut its umbilical cord with the Government as many of its faculty seem to desire.

It will be a tall order, given that it may need to pool resources with IIM Bangalore and Kolkata to nurture the three weaker IIMs - Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode.

Surely, it is not going to be easy times ahead for the new batch of IIM students.

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