Student members of a committee handling campus placements at IIM Bangalore have stepped down after the institute amended its policy to drop a contentious provision seeking to give preferential treatment to them in the recruitment process.
The resignation by all 20 members has cast a shadow on the smooth conduct of annual campus placement activities at the B-school scheduled to start on December 20.
Annual recruitment activities at the IIMs are mainly managed by the placement committee of students under the guidance of the administration. The committee selects companies, invites them for campus recruitments and facilitates the conduct of the exercise.
Every IIM student is supposed to do a summer internship after the first year, excellence in which earns them a pre-placement offer (PPO) from that company. Students who obtain PPOs used to be given a limited opportunity to appear for interviews in the final placement round because they already have one confirmed offer in advance.
According to IIM Bangalore sources, the institute this year introduced a provision in the placement policy relaxing this limited-opportunity clause for “senior placement representatives” in the students’ placement committee. This allows these students unlimited access to placement opportunities although they already have a job offer.
Other students took to social media platforms like Instagram to protest the new policy, which they called discriminatory. The protests forced the IIM to drop the contentious provision.
All 20 members of the committee stepped down on Wednesday, creating a vacuum in the key body responsible for coordinating placement activities, sources said.
“What the institute did was justified. They should not have brought such a policy in the first place. After the changes, the committee members have resigned collectively. Now it is unclear who will manage the placement activities,” said a source.
The Telegraph sent an email to IIM Bangalore director U. Dinesh Kumar asking about the flip-flops. His response is awaited.
