IIM brand spells high value for money

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IIM-A gives green light to new pay scale

: to calculate the annual cost-per-student to ascertain the fee. The agency worked out the cost at Rs 3.93 lakh per student and accordingly, a report was submitted in November 2007. The report was taken as a reference for finalising the new fee structure for 2008-09.

Meanwhile, says Shekhar Chaudhuri, director, IIM-Calcutta: “For the first year of 2008-2010 batch, the fee will be Rs 3 lakh while the decision for the second year is not yet finalised.” He points out that the issue of quality needs to be looked at from a larger perspective. “With increasing size of the student body we would require a larger number of high quality faculty members. Currently, there is a shortage of well-qualified faculty in the country. To cope with the burgeoning demand we would have to take on extra load to respond to the challenge facing us. The IIMs will need to create classrooms and hostel for the increased student numbers.”

To ease up the pressure on students, fee waivers and loans have been proposed such as 100% waiver in fee for students whose family income is below Rs 1 lakh and 85% fee-waiver for students with family income lower than Rs 2 lakh, apart of course from loans. Says IIM- B director Pankaj Chandra, “We have developed a strong financing programme supported by collateral fee loan (upto Rs 10 lakh) with local banks and have increased the funds in our scholarship programme from Rs 91 lakh to Rs 1.5 crore. The loan is available to all students and the scholarship is for needy students. So the fee will not have any impact on a poor student.” Several students have given a thumbs up to the fee-hike. It is obvious that the IIMs are looking for financial autonomy essentially to fund their expansion programme and meet the rising cost of acquiring and retaining faculty.

A fresh Ahmedabad based IIM pass out, Neha Solanki says, “The fee hike will not affect the Brand IIM. On the contrary, there are chances of them becoming a bigger brand by raising fees and offering even better education.” She is of the opinion that the kind of professional environment IIM offers at both in the classroom and hostel, gives students a feel of the actual working conditions. Academics and faculty are the core strengths of the IIMs.