The Hindu Business Line : `Industry must pay more to IIMs for recruitment'

Talking to newspersons here on Wednesday on the IIM fee cut imbroglio, and the draft resolution which seemed to toe the Government line, Mr Y.C. Deveshwar, Chairman of board of governors of Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIMC), said there was a need to devise a mechanism by which companies which approach IIMs for recruitment are charged market prices. He said if companies can recruit these candidates by agreeing to pay huge salaries, surely a portion of that amount can be paid to the institute.

He said this may help bring down the subsidy element substantially. Mr Deveshwar suggested that the placement service fee should be raised to Rs 2 lakh per candidate from the Rs 15,000 at present, as companies that come to campuses to recruit have the capacity to pay. This, he felt, can impart the much-needed financial stability to the IIMs.

In the same breath, he also called for a thorough review of the Memorandum of Association (MOA) of IIMC, which was put in place way back in 1961 at totally different times. He also clarified that there was convergence of views among the IIMs on a number of common issues. He called for strong coordination among the IIMs.

A new Governance Document for the IIMC, nearly a year in the making, is also in the process of being finalised. The document, inter alia, seeks to propose and clarify the roles and responsibilities of the board of governors, director and other academic and non-academic bodies of the institute.

Pointing out that he, personally, was in favour of making IIMC financially independent, Mr Deveshwar called for a commonality of approach among the IIMs on the issue of hike in placement service fee.

He said large corporates such as ITC or HLL were the main beneficiaries of the high quality education being provided by the IIMs, just as was the case overseas with such institutions of higher learning.

Denying that he was on the defensive, going by the draft resolution which has accepted the fee cut, subject of course to conditionalities, he said fee reduction in Government funded institutions was a matter of public policy.

He informed that a meeting with the faculty members was scheduled for April 16 to discuss the situation.

Suggesting that there need be no misgivings about the erosion of powers of the faculty members of IIMs, Mr Deveshwar said he was fully confident of answering all the queries of faculty members on the draft resolution.

On the issue of faculty salaries, he said the issue should be left to those charged with accountability. Asked why all the IIMs cannot act in a concerted manner with regard to the fee reduction issue, Mr Deveshwar said each IIM was in a different stage of development, and have a different set of board of governors. He, however, admitted that at least in areas of uniformity, there should be a coordinated effort.

Stressing on the need to work in partnership, Mr Deveshwar said the draft resolution has clearly laid out the conditions of empowerment of the director and the faculty bodies operating within the scope of the MOA, and all can rest fully assured on this.

"While it is important to carry courage of conviction in expressing one's views, it is equally important to bring to bear wisdom and determination to resolve conflict in order to make progress and move forward."

He also clarified that the proposed Governance Document will try and take a consolidated view by way of a vision document on broad policy issues, for a suitable dialogue with the Government.

The draft document has already been presented to the IIMC board and its views are now expected.

IIM-C faculty against fee cut

IT is learnt that the IIMC faculty, which met here later in the day to discuss the draft resolution released to the press on Tuesday, has severely criticised the acceptance of the fee cut, calling it a kind of letdown.

As per information available with Business Line, the faculty representatives who were present at the IIMC board meeting, which had empowered the Chairman, Mr Y.C. Deveshwar, to prepare the draft resolution, keeping in mind the caveats, had apparently not communicated the full purport of the resolution to their bretheren.

In the absence of such communication, it is learnt that faculty members have called the draft resolution a complete let down, and that it would be severely opposed.

Mr Deveshwar confirmed here at a news conference that the interests of faculty members would be fully protected, and they need have no fears on this count.

Under any case, a lot will hinge on what the Supreme Court has to say on Thursday on the PIL.

The resolution was now only at a draft stage, and would be discussed threadbare with the faculty team on April 16.

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