NEW DELHI: Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh on Wednesday indicated that the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, had exceeded its brief in planning to set up a campus in Singapore.

The IIMs should use the huge corpus they had built over the years to meet the demand for quality education within the country before opening offshore campuses, he said.

The Minister was responding to questions on the issue at the Sixth Editors' Conference on Social Sector Issues. Asked why the Government did not tell the IIM, Bangalore, that it could not set up a campus in Singapore when a Ministry representative was on its Board, he said, "The Board of Governors should be asked whether such a decision was taken by it in the presence of HRD Ministry officials." Having said this, he offered the answer: "It was not.''

MoA provisions

As per the Memorandum of Association (MoA) of the IIM, Bangalore, it cannot open offshore campuses. On the delay in communicating the HRD Ministry's position on the issue, he said: "If people take a decision that is not within their competence, it does not matter when the decision was taken."

Reiterating that the IIMs could open offshore campuses if they made amendments to their MoAs, Mr. Singh said it was for the IIMs to take the initiative. However, when asked what the Ministry's position would be if any one or all the IIMs chose to amend their MoAs to empower them to set up offshore campuses, he said it was a hypothetical question.

Mr. Singh clarified that there had been no move by the Ministry to persuade the IIMs to increase the student intake. "I have always respected their autonomy. It is up to them to increase their seats."

Earlier, Mr. Singh indicated that the Government was in no position to open any more Indian Institutes of Technology. Admitting that higher education was "under-funded," he said the Ministry had made a representation to the Planning Commission for higher allocation in this segment and was hopeful of a favourable decision.

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