By IANS
Ahmedabad : The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), faces three impediments in its growth and expansion: shortage of quality faculty in the country, funds, and infrastructure, the business school’s new director, Samir Barua, said Saturday.
Talking to reporters, Barua, who took charge Nov 6, attributed the difficulty in getting quality faculty to inadequate doctoral programmes in management being offered in India.
This has impaired the supply side of faculty on a long-term basis. The IIM-A has faculty strength of 85 and “we need at least 15 more”.
Asked about sourcing faculty globally, Barua said this was one option. While it depended on the compensation package a decade ago, “it is no longer the issue”.
India has grown into a strong economy and there has been a worldwide recognition of this feat. It is now relatively easy to get faculty from abroad as India is an “exciting destination”, he said.
The director said the institute was free to recruit faculty from abroad. “There is no need to route the request through the central government.”
Describing funding for growth plans as one of his immediate concerns, Barua said while government funds would not be unwelcome, the IIM-A was now strong enough after five decades of existence to “raise resources on its own”.
He hinted that he could tap the IIM Society and the large number of former students, many of them in the top echelons of the corporate world, to generate additional funds.
Asked to comment on the reported tussle between the institute, which wants more functional autonomy, and the union human resource development ministry, Barua countered: “Why do you think so (that there was any tussle)?”
He said it was not true that the IIM-A and the ministry were at loggerheads. Even on the issue of fees, “there is no disagreement,” Barua said.