Bad management

Recently, the Centre has launched several initiatives to make India a manufacturing hub, while making economic growth more inclusive. These initiatives have increased the demand for professional managers significantly, making management education more important than ever.

In India, management education is imparted by various players such as universities, autonomous, affiliated and unaffiliated institutes besides open universities offering distance learning courses. And then there are the Indian Institutes of Management.

The human resource development ministry has prepared a draft Bill seeking to form a ‘coordination forum’ for the 19 IIMs; its contents have triggered a debate.

The debate is being led by three major players in management education — old, reputed IIMs (IIM-A, IIM-B and IIM-C), new IIMs and private institutes. The Bill proposes to allow the IIMs to grant degrees instead of diplomas. As a result, programmes offered by the IIMs would be called MBA (in place of PGDM) and PhD (in place of fellowship).

This proposal is being appreciated by the new IIMs as they feel a degree would help boost their brand in the market and would make their courses more attractive.

On the other hand, the reputed IIMs believe they already have an excellent brand due to better quality and granting a degree or diploma has no relevance for them.

At present, IIMs enjoy freedom regarding appointment of chairpersons, directors and faculty members, fixing of fees and remuneration, changes in curriculum and decisions on the institute’s infrastructure.

The new Bill will snatch away this freedom by making all these subject to the approval of the HRD ministry in addition to remaining under the Right to Information (RTI) Act and audit by Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India.

At the same time, the private institutes are also opposing the Bill since they are the worst-hit because such a move would impact their popularity due to their inability to grant degrees.

Some private institutes even rank above the new IIMs. They have quality infrastructure, admirable course curriculum and faculty, affordable fee structure and location, and above all remarkable placements.

With the new IIMs being able to grant MBA degrees instead of diplomas, it is probable that students will make their preferences based on the nature of certification rather than institute rankings. The courses run by private institutes will lose their sheen once the IIMs begin to award degrees.

The arguments put forth by the old and reputed IIMs seem untenable for the simple fact that if a universal policy is being framed for the IIMs, all ought to be put under the same umbrella. Allowing IIMs to grant degrees would compromise the position of these institutions. It is strongly felt that there must be a level-playing field for everyone. In fact, the government should draft a ‘Management Education Bill’ rather than an ‘IIM Bill’ to approve all management institutes.

The future of management education in the country ought to focus on re-orienting itself to meet the increasing demand for professional managers.

The writer teaches at FORE School of Management, New Delhi

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