New Delhi, Oct. 28: The Centre today set a 15-day deadline for the governments of Bihar, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to suggest possible sites for IIMs as well as temporary campuses where classes can start next July.
Higher education secretary Satya Narayan Mohanty chaired a meeting of the directors of the six old IIMs and the secretaries in charge of technical education in the six states to review the progress in setting up the business schools announced in the last budget.
Each of the states was asked to allocate 200 acres free of cost, preferably in a location that has air connectivity. The Centre will inspect the sites before accepting the state’s choice.
The human resource development ministry wants the states to be ready with their proposals before the Common Admission Test (CAT) for entrance into IIMs is held on November 16 and 22, an IIM director said. The ministry suggested that the temporary campus should ideally be located in the same city where the permanent campus is planned.
Another IIM director said the new institutes would be mentored by the nearest old IIMs. For example, IIM Bangalore is likely to mentor IIM Andhra Pradesh; IIM Calcutta is likely to mentor IIM Odisha; and IIM Ahmedabad is likely to mentor IIM Maharashtra. It is not clear which of the remaining older IIMs — Lucknow, Kozhikode and Indore — will mentor which of the other three.
“We have mentored new IIMs in the past also. Our faculty members will manage the new institute till the time the new institute appoints its own faculty. The examinations and all academic activities will be conducted by the mentor institute,” the director said.
Seven new IIMs have come up in the past six years.
At the meeting today, each state except Punjab suggested three or four possible sites for the permanent campus. Bihar proposed to offer 150-200 acres of land in Bodhgaya.
The Andhra Pradesh principal secretary for higher and technical education, Nalini Sahani, said the IIM would be set up in Visakhapatnam. The state government has also identified a temporary campus in the same city.
The Odisha secretary for technical education, Chandra Shekhar Kumar, said the state has zeroed in on possible sites for the business school and that it would identify a temporary campus soon.
Each of the new IIMs is expected to have 50 post-graduate programme seats. This will take the total IIM seats in the country from 4,000 now to 4,300 next year.
The Education Consultancy India Ltd is preparing the detailed project report for the proposed IIMs and five proposed IITs, also announced in the budget. The DPR will indicate the growth roadmap of every institute.
The ministry is likely to move a cabinet note next month seeking approval for starting the new institutes. After that, the ministry can appoint the directors as well as the members to the boards of governors.
The new IITs will come up in Jammu and Kashmir, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala next year. The states have been asked for 500 acres of land each. A meeting of the technical education secretaries of these states and the directors of the five older IITs will be held in November to review the progress in setting up the new institutes.
