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Published : Monday, 6 March, 2017 05:40 PM

 

IIM Bill brings Directors of 50 top private B-schools to call for level-playing field

Directors and Chairmans of autonomous PGDM constitutions, who have met recently at New Delhi, had a roundtable discussion on the future of Indian Management Education. This meeting has been called by the Education Promotion Society for Indian (EPSI), an apex body representing wide spectrum of higher education institutions, including 500+ PGDM institutions.

Roundtable of PGDM institutions had attempted to build the future scenario of management education in view of the IIM Bill, 2017 being passed by the parliament in the current budget session. Leading management educationists have also explored all the possibilities and future options to maintain autonomy of PGDM institutions and their current capability to produce 75000 to 90000 talented management graduates annually which take care of the managerial manpower needs of the Indian as well international companies doing business in India.

Directors and Deans of leading PGDM institutions who addressed the meeting were Prof. C.P. Shrimali (MDI), Prof. Debashish Chatterjee (IMI), Dr. Ashish Pani (XLRI), Prof. Atish Chattopadhyay (IMT), Prof. Parashuramanan (SDMIM), Prof. C.N. Narayana (Kriloskar Institute), Prof. I.M. Pandey (VIPS), Prof. Subhash Sharma(IBA), Prof. J.P. Sharma (IMS), Dr. Sanjiv Marwah (J.K. Business School), Dr Pradeep Bhavedkar, Managing Director, MITCON Institute of Management, Dr. G. Vishwanathan, President, EPSI. The interactive meeting was also addressed by, Shri Srivatsa Jaipuria (JIM) and representatives of TAPMI (Manipal), XISS (Ranchi), LBISM (New Delhi), GIM (Goa), Siva Sivani, Vishwa Vishwani (Hydrabad), Jaipuria Institute of Management, Masters School, G.L. Bajaj, Accurate (UP) and Asia Pacific institute and EMPI (Delhi).

Leading management educations have decided to approach Niti Ayog, MHRD and the AICTE for giving a due consideration to their genuine concerns and apprehensions to the current policy regimes in which 20 IIMs are dominating the whole space in management educations whereas the interests of 500+ PGDM institutions are being ignored at the peril of current growth trajectory of Indian economy.

Directors of PGDM institutions were of the view that their institutions are not only catering to 75% managerial manpower requirements of Indian companies, they are also endeavouring to apply innovations, critical thinking, creativity, design thinking and entrepreneurship to salvage Indian Management Education from its current inertia. PGDM institutions have been producing managers since XLRI came into existence in 1949 and during last 67 years, more than 1.5 million talented managers have been groomed by these institutions.

Speakers in the directors’ meeting have taken a critical view of working of the regulatory bodies particularly the AICTE where management discipline hardly get any importance justified with its vital importance for the national economy. By treating the management education as a ‘me-too’ or junior partner with the engineering education the AICTE has caused dis-service to the potential of Indian Business during last 24 years of its existence.

B-schools’ directors have a unanimous view that the Niti Ayog, MHRD and the regulatory bodies like the AICTE and the UGC should realize the critical importance of management education which cannot be dealt with an engineering bias. They have said that now the Indian management education has reached to a maturity level after a long journey of 68 years. Keeping in mind the criticality of applying management practices not only in business but also at all levels in governance, now there is a dire need of setting-up a ‘Council for Management Education’ (CME) which should take charge of all policy decisions in management education and act as a catalyst in making India as a Global Hub for management education. Management educationists have been demanding it since 1980’s but now it cannot be avoided further.

In the meeting convened by the EPSI, Singapore Model of Education was mooted as an example that how the Government of Singapore realized critical importance of Management Education and set up the Singapore Management University(SMU) in partnership with the European Foundation for Management Development(EFMD) 15 years ago and has been successful in making the city nation as an International Hub for management education.            

Expressing the EPSI’s stand on fall out of IIM bill 2017 on PGDM institutions, Dr. H. Chaturvedi, Alternative President (EPSI) said that while we welcome Union Government’s move to protect autonomy of IIMs after passing of the bill and equipping them with degree granting powers, we will seek ‘level-playing field’ with IIMs for 500+ PGDM institutions. We believe in collaborative approach to work with the governments, industry, society and among ourselves. Let there be more autonomy and more funding for quality management institution both in public and private sector. No distinctinction should be made between two kinds of institution while giving funds for research.

Dr. H. Chaturvedi has said that before putting the perspective of 500+ PGDM institutions to the Union Government, a nationwide survey will be undertaken with these institutions. Few more directors’ meetings will be held at Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad in coming months.

On Behalf of the Education Promotion Society for India [EPSI]Dr H Chaturvedi
Alternate President, EPSI

 

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