Guwahati, March 12: Assam is going to have its first Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and a women’s university.

Chief minister Tarun Gogoi, while presenting the state budget 2012-13 in the Assembly, today said the IIM would be set up on public-private partnership model. He said the proposed IIM would be one of the best management institutes in the country and his government would invite quality faculty to produce future managers. “It is my challenge to set up the institute,” he added.

Sources said since setting up an IIM implied huge financial investment, the government wanted the involvement of the private sector. A few years ago, Assam had missed the opportunity to have an IIM with the human resource development ministry selecting Shillong instead of Guwahati to set up the first IIM in the region. The Centre has given a green signal to Dispur’s proposal this time.

Gogoi said a bill would be introduced in the current Assembly session for establishing a women’s university in Jorhat. He said the setting up of such a university would bring a revolution in the education sector and help women empowerment in a big way.

Bineeta Dutta, president of All Assam Lekhika Samaroh Samiti, said the samiti had first put the proposal before the chief minister two years ago. “We are very happy that such a university would be established at Jorhat and hope it comes into being at the earliest. The university should be of international standards, which calls for recruitment of very qualified teachers. It should also be named after a very reputed woman of Assam,” she said.

Dutta said the courses should pertain to women’s studies, along with other subjects, as there was much research to be done in this field.

Neelima Saikia, writer and a former scientist of the North East Institute of Science and Technology, said she had given a PowerPoint presentation to Gogoi at the Jorhat circuit house a year ago in the presence of (late) Deba Bora, the then press adviser to the chief minister, on what courses could be taught at the women’s university and had suggested technical courses.

“The women’s university should not teach common subjects in the arts, science and commerce streams as taught in the other universities of the state. It should empower women technically by teaching them everything on instrumentation and electronics so that they do not have to go and call mechanics for each and everything that goes wrong in the house and outside. They should be taught how to repair computers and refrigerators as well as X-ray and MRI machines. Besides there should be courses in handicrafts and handlooms,” she said.

Hailing the announcement, educationist Mridupawan Goswami said the university could be built on the lines of the SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai. “I do not know what the University Act will be but I hope the courses taught will be career and market-oriented instead of the traditional ones,” he said.

Gogoi also announced a Rs 1,000-crore chief minister’s special package to improve infrastructure and other facilities in institutions of higher education in the state.