The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved the IIM Bill, which proposes to grant statutory powers to 20 premier B-schools enabling them to award degrees instead of diplomas.
As first reported by The Indian Express on October 8, 2016, the 20 IIMs, unlike other Institutes of National Importance set up by an Act such as the IITs and NITs, will not have the President as their ex-officio ‘Visitor’.
In other words, the government will not have a say in selecting top executives of these institutes and the IIMs will have sweeping autonomy more than they currently enjoy.
According to the Bill, the Board of Governors (BOG) of each IIM will appoint its own chairperson, who should be an eminent person from the field of industry, education, science, technology and other such fields.
The BOG will have 15 members. They would include a nominee of the Centre, one representative of the respective state government, two faculty members and director of the concerned institute, four eminent people from the field of education, industry, commerce, social science and five persons distinguished in the field of management. At least three of the 15 have to be women and one should be from the SC-ST community.
The BOG chairperson will be empowered to invite any number of experts to a meeting of the Board, but they will not be allowed to vote.
All the 20 B-schools will coordinate their functions and activities through a Coordinating Forum, which “shall facilitate sharing of experiences and concerns with a view to enhance the performance of the institutes”.
Unlike the IIT Council, which is the highest decision making body of the IITs, the 33-member Forum of the IIMs will not be headed by the HRD Minister.
Instead, “an eminent person” shortlisted by a search-cum-selection committee will be appointed as the Forum’s chairperson for a term of two years.
The other members of the Forum include the higher education secretary in the HRD Ministry, two state government officers looking after technical/management education, chairpersons of four IIMs, who will by nominated for two years on rotation basis, directors of all 20 IIMs and five persons of eminence of which at least one should be a woman.
Source: The Indian Express