The government is set to pressure the IIMs to allow students to pursue part of their courses at other institutes and accept the academic credits they earn there, a system that the elite B-schools have been resisting for nearly four years.

At the first meeting of the IIM coordination forum on Tuesday, the education ministry will discuss academic credit transfer, Viksit Bharat and the implementation of reservation in recruitment.

The government had in December 2021 notified rules that brought the Institutions of National Importance (INIs) such as IITs, IIMs and IISERs under the Academic Bank of Credit policy under which students can pursue up to 50 per cent of a course from an institution other than the one in which they are enrolled. The IIMs have not implemented the policy, citing quality concerns.

A former IIM faculty member said the older IIMs were reluctant to accept academic credits earned by students from other institutions, particularly non-IIMs.

“The IIMs, particularly the older IIMs, are concerned about the brand and quality. They are not interested in accepting the credits of new IIMs. It would be very difficult for them to accept academic credits from universities and private institutions,” he said.

A director of an IIM said the government might prod the IIMs to accept the academic credits of institutions of a certain standard.

To achieve the government’s Viksit Bharat@2047 goal, the Centre may ask the IIMs to increase their seats and introduce MBA courses in Indian languages. The IIMs have already enhanced the number of seats by 25 per cent in all courses to implement the 10 per cent reservation for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS).

At the meeting, the government may also direct the IIMs to strictly implement the reservation policy in the recruitment of faculty and non-faculty members. The IIMs have resisted the implementation of reservations in recruitment by arguing that they don’t get the talented candidates they need from the reserved categories.