With the government planning an IIM Act to make these business schools recognised by a Parliamentary law, the Indian Institutes of Managements (IIM) may soon start awarding degrees instead of diplomas. At present, IIMs award only post-graduate diplomas in management (PGDM).
The IIMs are not dependent on government funding for their operational expenses. MHRD has been examining the issue of bringing IIMs under an umbrella legislation like the one governing IITs ? Institutes of Technology Act.
?IIMs themselves came up with this idea. The IIM Act will be on the lines of the IIT Act, wherein the institutes will be recognised by an Act of Parliament,? said a human resource and development ministry (MHRD) official.
The ministry had earlier said that bringing IIMs under the ambit of a Central law will in no way alter their accountability to Parliament or their status of being public institutions, while it will empower IIMs to award degrees to the students, something they are not competent to do so at present.
?The only reason for such a legislation is that Master of Business Administration (MBA) is the globally accepted nomenclature while PGDM is known only in India. The thinking in this regard is good and we will be able to give degrees once it is finalised,? said Devi Singh, the director, IIM Lucknow.
There are 13 IIMs in the country of which six are old and the rest were recently established and each of them functions under its respective Memorandum of Associations (MoAs) and rules and regulations framed thereunder. They are societies registered under the Societies Registration Act.
Under the IIT Act, IITs are run by the government, but MHRD says it will not curtail the business school?s administrative and financial autonomy. IIMs are public institutions and accountable to Parliament. Their accounts are annually audited by the comptroller and auditor general, and they enjoy complete autonomy with regards the academic matters and matters relating to fees, selection of faculty, introduction of new courses and incurring of expenditure in conformity with the prudence involved in public spending, among others.
