Former IIM Ahmedabad (IIM-A) director Bakul Dholakia has lamented the way the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) failed to make most of the autonomy given to them by the IIM Act, 2017.
Dholakia believes the IIM could have done considerably better to improve their “research output, global rankings or their stature in the eyes of the corporates.”
In an interview with The Print, Dholakia pointed out the functioning of the IIM, which made stakeholders view the institute with scepticism.
He alluded to IIM-A’s decline in rankings from the high of 2009-10 when it was 11 on the FT Global rankings for its one-year business programme. This year, the institute’s ranking stands at 51.
“IIMs are ranking below private management institutions and don’t even figure in the world’s top 50 management institutions. This is a matter of concern,” he told The Print.
The Board of Governors (BoG), under the IIM Act, 2017, are vested with powers to appoint a chairman chosen from a list of eminent personalities in distinguished fields.
The amended Bill dilutes the autonomy of IIMs by appointing the President of India as the Visitor of the institutes with powers to appoint the chairperson of the BoG and directors of the institutes, a major change from the 2017 Act.
Dholakia believes the amendments to the IIM Act are signs that institutes can’t ignore.
“The current amendments are a halfway house wherein the government has taken control only of the appointment of the director and chairman,” Dholakia said. “My worry is that because a lot of complaints were sent to the ministry regarding the functioning of the IIMs, it resulted in the amendments that have been brought in. Now, tomorrow, if more complaints regarding the functioning of the board go to the government, more amendments will come, which will actually erode the autonomy of the IIMs.”
He also highlighted many decisions taken by IIM boards in the recent past, including that of IIM-A.
“IIM-A has been a faculty-governed institution since its inception, and the board and director need to respect that. If a director does not take into account the views of the faculty, then the very fundamental basis of requiring autonomy goes out of the window,” he told The Print.
He referred to the faculty that opposed the razing of Louis Kahn’s red brick dorms and changing the institute’s logo.
Additionally, he questioned the IIM-A board’s decision to give performance bonuses to its directors.
“Never in the history of IIM-A has such a thing ever happened. I don’t have a problem with the bonus being given. However, on what performance parameters is it being given? The board has never answered the questions of the stakeholders,” he said.
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