President gives nod to IIM Bill; institutes can now award degrees

IIMs get greater autonomy

The Indian Institutes of Management can finally start awarding degrees.

The President of India, Ramnath Kovind, gave his assent to the Indian Institutes of Management Bill (IIM Bill) 2017 on January 1, 2018 allowing the law to come into force, most likely from the upcoming session.

Following the President's nod, the IIMs have begun consultation among each other to arrive at common regulations to adopt for implementation of the bill.

The IIM Bill was unanimously passed in the Rajya Sabha on December 19, 2017. In the Lok Sabha, it was passed in July 2017. The bill allows the IIMs to grant degrees and set up campuses abroad, among other regulations. It will also allow administrative, academic and financial autonomy to these B-schools. The bill also recognises IIMs as Institutes of National Importance.

Terming the passing of bill in both the Houses as 'historic' the Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar had said that it "will prove to be a crucial facility for the students. We are trying to provide better facilities to students at the utmost we can”.

“We are giving IIMs the importance of national level so now, the post grad diploma will be seen as post grad degree and the fellow programme will be known as a PHD programme, ” he had added.

Defending the Bill in Lok Sabha in July, he had said, “There is tremendous government interference and control (in these institutions)... We want to remove that. There would not be any government control... We have to trust the best brains, the best institutions”.

The Bill was cleared by the Union Cabinet in January this year. Under the Bill, the IIMs will be declared as Institutions of National Importance enabling them to grant degrees to their students.

Earlier, IIMs were functioning as autonomous bodies registered under the Societies Act. Their previous status didn't not allow them to award degrees. They were awarding postgraduate diplomas and fellow programmes in management. While these are treated as equivalent to MBAs and PhDs, respectively in India, the equivalence is not universally acceptable, especially for the fellow programme.

IIM Bill changes it all:

• The Bill grants complete autonomy to the institutes with greater accountability.
• After the Bill comes into effect, the IIMs will be managed by a board which will select its chairperson and director, which means government will have no say in the selection of top executives in the institutes, anymore. At present, the boards largely make recommendations to the government which takes the final decision.
• More management experts and IIM alumni will be able to participate in the board meetings and discussions.
• In the new Bill, the provision of the role of Visitor-The President of India-has been dropped.
• Now there will be regular performance reviews of the institutions by independent agencies, taking into consideration the five-year plans of IIMs and long-term strategy.
• The annual reports will be placed in Parliament and the Comptroller and Auditor General will audit their accounts.
• The government will have no say in appointments or fees.
• A Coordination Forum of IIMs will be set up having limited power. It will work as an advisory body, having 33 members. Its chairman will be selected by a search-cum-selection committee.
  
  Also read:
• IIM Bill: Other B-Schools seek national management university
• IIM Bill: Impact on other B-Schools offering PG diploma
  
  
  
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