14 IIMs Face Shortage of Directors, Posts Lying Vacant!

Posts of directors are vacant in around 14 IIMs including IIM Bangalore and Nagpur, for which the matter was reported to the Lok Sabha. The other Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) included Kozhikode, Sirmaur, Rohtak, Amritsar, Ranchi, Sambalpur, Udaipur, Visakhapatnam, Raipur, Tiruchirappalli and Bodh Gaya.

According to the HRD Ministry, until the appointment of regular Directors, Directors of the mentor IIMs are looking after the six new campuses (Sirmaur, Amritsar, Nagpur, Visakhapatnam, Sambalpur and Bodh Gaya). For some of them, Search-cum-Selection Committee has recommended a panel of names. For other IIMs, the tenure of outgoing director has been extended or the senior most professor has been given additional charge of the post for the time being.

The advertisements for the vacant post of directors for all these IIMs have been issued; however, there is no surety of when these seats will be filled. The reason behind these vacancies is unknown.

New IIMs facing difficulty in filling up their seats

Vacancy for directors is not a new problem these new IIMs have been facing lately. Six new IIMs opened up last year and have managed to get a decent number of students on board. However, the number has not been able to reach the maximum capacity. The lack of permanent faculty, location and infrastructure of the new IIMs has been some of the key reasons for students to not show up this year too.

Maintaining the name and fame of older IIMs is a sticky situation for the new IIMs, it will take time and years to build upon credibility and trust like other IIMs have.