The Hindu : IIM-K to increase number of seats

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 19, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

IIM-K to increase number of seats

By J.S. Bablu

KOZHIKODE, JAN. 18. The Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode (IIM-K) has decided to increase the number of seats in a phased manner in its two-year Post-Graduate Programme (PGP) in Management.

The decision assumes significance in the wake of the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) suggestion to the IIMs to reduce faculty strength, increase the student intake and rationalise the fee structure. The chairman of the Board of Governors, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, (IIM-A), N.R. Narayana Murthy, had stated the other day that the IIM-A has an open mind on the Ministry's suggestion.

Speaking to , the IIM-K Director, A.H. Kalro, said 120 students would be admitted to the first year of the PGP from July 2004, when the new academic year starts. It will increase to 180 students in July 2005. The IIM-K had increased its seats in July 2003 from 60 to 120. Actually, 126 students joined the course in the academic year 2003. Dr. Kalro, however, said that he had not yet received any instruction in writing from the HRD Ministry on the issue of "cutting down on faculty, rationalisation of fee structure or increasing student intake". However, he added that if the Government issued such a direction, it would be complied with.

The total number of students now on the IIM-K campus is 185, with 60 students in the second year of the PGP expected to pass out in the beginning of this year. The total number of students on the campus from July 2004, when the next academic year commences, will be 240. It will increase to 300 from July 2005.

When his attention was drawn to the observation of the Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Murli Manohar Joshi, that the IIMs should churn out more professional managers to rev up the country's economy, he said though he agreed with the observation that more managers were needed, but it was not the responsibility of IIMs alone to churn out all these professionals. "Yes, we need managers as the economy is growing at a rapid pace. To illustrate, we need managers in cooperatives, hospitals and in other sectors. But it is not the responsibility of the IIMs to churn out all these professionals," he said.

Dr. Kalro said the faculty strength of IIM-K was "well within reasonable limits". He said the faculty of the IIM-K was involved in a lot of programmes apart from its two-year Post Graduate Programme (PGP) in Management, admission to which was conducted through the Common Admission Test (CAT). (The teacher-student ratio at the IIM-K is currently pegged at 1:6). "Our faculty is engaged in research projects, funded by various organisations, to the tune of Rs. 1 crore. We have 12 to 15 research projects each year."

Also, the IIMK is offering PG Certificate Programme in Management (PGCPM) through its Interactive Distance Learning Programme (IDLP), which was started one year back. It is broadcast on broadband via satellite. "Right now, we have more than 300 students in two batches spread out in 26 cities across the country. Participants will attend three sessions twice a week from classrooms located in 26 cities."

He said there were only 20 full-time faculty members at the IIM-K. Besides these activities, these faculties have evaluation of performances of students and also offer evaluation services to many other institutes.

Dr.Kalro, responding to the issue of rationalisation of the fees of IIMs (the Union HRD Minister, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, had reportedly proposed slashing of IIM fees by 80 per cent), Dr. Kalro observed that the fee structure of the IIM-K was very low when compared to IIM, Ahmedabad. "Our Board of Governors is the authority to fix the fees in IIMK. Our tuition fees is Rs. 55,000. Other fees, including hostel, IT facilities and placement fees, will come to around Rs. 50,000," he said.

He said various committees on the state of higher education in the country had noted that the fees levied was very low and hence the education institutes were languishing. "There is only very limited funding coming from the State Government. Hence, we need to increase the fees," he said.

The IIM-K, the fifth IIM in the country, was started in 1996. It began offering a two-year PGP in Management from 1997. The IIM-K also admits non- resident Indians (NRIs) and students from abroad to its PGP.

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