The IIM coordination forum is scheduled to meet for the first time this month, eight years after the IIM Act was passed with a provision to create such an outfit to discuss issues of common interest and to share experiences, ideas and concerns to enhance the performance of the B-schools.

According to the Indian Institute of Management Act, 2017, the forum is an advisory body, unlike the Indian Institute of Technology Council whose decisions are binding on the IITs.

The 2017 law stated that the coordination forum, having as members the directors of all the IIMs and the chairpersons of four IIMs on a rotation basis, would be headed by an eminent person. It also mandated at least one meeting of the forum every year.

The government brought an amendment to the law in 2023, modifying the composition of the forum with a provision that the chairpersons of all the IIMs would be members, along with the directors, eminent persons and government officials.

When Prakash Javadekar was human resource development minister, he held meetings with IIM directors in 2016 and 2018 to discuss the new IIM bill. However, the forum never met, two IIM directors said. The education ministry has now convened the meeting on September 23 in Delhi.

"Nothing much should be expected from this meeting since this forum does not enjoy the same powers as the IIT Council. Unlike the IITs, the IIMs are empowered to decide on fees, admission policy and institutional growth," said the director of an IIM.