A government-appointed review committee is unlikely to suggest any change in the fee structure in the Indian Institutes of Management despite demands from various quarters to lower the fees.
The committee, headed by Maruti Udyog CEO R C Bhargava, has already visited some of the IIMs and has completed its deliberations on the matter pertaining to administration and excellence of the institutes.
"We are of the view that fees should be finalised by the concerned IIM boards. What is the use of the board if we have to decide on the fee structure," Bhargava told PTI.
The IIMs have already hiked their fees from this year. IIM-Ahmedabad had announced steepest increase of 175 per cent in the fees of its first year post-graduate programme from Rs 200,000 to Rs 5,50,000. Similarly other IIMs have increased their fees.
"We have increased the fee from this session," IIM-Lucknow director Prof Devi Singh said.
The review committee would submit its report next month, Bhargava said. The panel is studying the functioning of the IIMs and will recommend the changes required in view of the demands of the growing economy.
"The basic thrust of the committee is to study and suggest the roadmap on how to create excellence and expand management education," he said.
The committee will make recommendation on how to attract funds from abroad also.
"IIMs have to raise funding from outside. In the US, the B-schools get funding from corporates. The IIMs can look for similar things here," he said.
The panel would also look into the problem of shortage of teachers in the wake of the decision to start six more IIMs from this year.
He said the committee has been constituted by the government after a period 15 years to look into the overall functioning of the IIMs.
The last committee was set up in 1992. Prior to which, a similar panel was constituted in 1977 to study whether IIMs needed to take up more activities or if any organisational changes were required.
"Now things have changed a lot. The economy is growing at eight to nine per cent. There is heavy attrition rate in the market. Each company is trying to attract the better talented professionals by giving huge salary. So we will study how to deal with the situation," Bhargava said.
The major problem faced by the industry is dearth of skilled manpower, he said. The demand for professionals has increased manifold over the years, he said.
"The IIMs are giving the required training to the people no doubt. But we will examine if the IIMs need to expand their activities and perform a larger role to impart required skill to people and enhance the human capital," Bhargava said.
