In a major move towards further unshackling the brand IIM, the Union Human Resource Development Minister Mr. Kapil Sibal has given his go ahead to the IIMs to set up campuses abroad.

A meeting was held in New Delhi on 13 October under the chairmanship of Mr. Sibal with the Chairpersons and Directors of IIMs on the future vision of the IIMs and the necessary steps to be taken to achieve them.  The meeting focused on three key areas: Going global, Fund Raising and Accountability (Action Plans).

According to the press release issued by Press Information Bureau, Mr. Sibal informed the members about the steps now been taken by the Ministry to provide autonomy to the IIMs. Some of these include:

-- Freedom to open centres in India and abroad

-- Full powers to the Boards of IIMs to create posts within the approved norms

-- Power to amend rules of the IIM within the framework of Memorandum of Association and Rules

-- Power to acquire and dispose property not fully or partially funded by the Ministry of HRD

-- Powers to approve their own Budget, and also to manage the funds generated by the IIMs on their own.

The release further says that at the meeting Mr. Sibal clearly stated that autonomy should go hand in hand with accountability; in that the faculty, the Director and the Board should take steps to prepare annual action plans and key performance indicators at each level and be fully accountable and transparent.
 
The meeting considered the reports of Committees constituted in the last meeting in Bangalore on certain key issues. Discussions were held on the report of the Committee constituted to recommend a new Governance Structure for IIMs (chaired by Mr. R.C. Bhargava, Chairman BOG- IIM Ranchi).

It was decided that the number of Board Members of IIMs would be reduced to 14. It also discussed the composition and selection of the Boards of governors with adequate membership to the Society of the IIM, the government, the faculty and the alumni. It was also decided that the IIM societies should have long term members who take continuous interest in the running of the IIMs.

It was also decided, in principle, that Directors of IIMs will now be appointed through a process wherein the Board of Governors of the IIMs suggests three names to the Government from which the Government chooses one.

On the second report of the Committee on Faculty and Research at the IIMs, chaired by Mr. Ajit Balakrishnan, Chairman, IIM, Calcutta, it was decided that the IIMs can top up the salaries of their Directors also in addition to the Faculty from the funds generated by them on their own.
It was also decided that the Faculty members would give individual work plans at the start of the year.

The recommendations of the Committee regarding use of technology in IIMs were accepted and the Minister directed that old and new IIMs sit together to streamline the use of technology for class scheduling, attendance, mark compilation etc.

On the recommendations of the Committee on Fund Raising by IIMs (chaired by Mr. Hari S. Bhatia, Chairman of IIM Raipur), it was decided that the IIMs have a development office especially for the purpose, each IIM have a fund raising policy and thereafter to have road shows. A two-day workshop will be conducted on the subject of collecting endowments for institutes.