Autonomy for IIT, IIM

The finance ministry has rejected a long-standing demand of the IITs and the IIMs seeking freedom from government interference in creating faculty posts. HRD ministry had proposed the IITs, IIMs and other top technical education institutions be allowed to create teaching posts on their own, while keeping the ratio of teaching to non-teaching posts intact.The HRD minister has on occasions over the past year said he wants to increasingly grant autonomy to the IITs and the IIMs.This proposal was aimed at freeing up some of the country’s best higher educational institutions to create faculty jobs based on their needs at a time rather than on bureaucratic norms.The proposal was seen as critical because of the Foreign Education Providers Bill, that will allow foreign varsities to enter India.Freeing up creation of faculty jobs at the IITs and IIMs would have helped them compete better with foreign universities that enjoy this freedom.The IITs and the IIMs have on occasions lost out on hiring renowned experts in a department because of no vacancies at the appropriate post.The percentage of vacancies in teaching posts varies from 15 per cent to 40 per cent across the IITs and the IIMs.The National Institutes of Technology (NITs), which were to be also covered under the HRD ministry proposal, also face a huge faculty shortage.

IIM-C hikes 2-year course fee

The Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, (IIM-C) has decided to increase the fees for their flagship management programme by Rs 5 lakh.As per the new fee structure, each student taking admission for 2009-11 will have to spend Rs 9 lakh for two years at the institute.They will have to pay Rs 4 lakh the first year and Rs 5 lakh for the second year for the Post-Grauate Diploma in Business Management and Post-Graduate Diploma in Computer aided Management (PGDM and PGDCM) programme. The batch of 2008-10, however, will pay Rs 7 lakh.Last year, when IIMs in Ahmedabad and Bangalore had increased their fees to Rs 11 lakh and Rs 9.5 lakh.In order to enhance the faculty strength, the Board of Governors has decided to have 120 teachers instead of the current 88.

IIM SHILLONG

Seventh IIM began its first academic session at SHILLONG from on Friday. IIM Shillong is the seventh IIM in the country after Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode.Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management (RGIIM), will function from the temporary Mayurbhanj Complex of the North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) till a permanent campus comes up in a 120-acre land allotted by the state government for the purpose.The Institute envisages for its flagship programme, namely, Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management (PGDBM), an annual student intake capacity of 60 in the first year. This is planned to be increased to 120 in the third year and 180 in the sixth year.The institute will conduct courses with Post-Graduate Diploma in Business Management, fellowship programme in management, management development programmes, tourism and hospitality management, tele-services and telemedicine, information systems and technology and subjects of local relevance such as tourism, horticulture and hydel power.