IIMs Asked to Increase PG Diploma Intakes

HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar was with the IIMs directors in a meeting in Shillong on Tuesday, and he said that IIMs have been asked to submit plans to increase their intake capacity.

As far as removing reservation in faculty appointments was concerned, Javadekar said that it is the constitution, which has provisions for it and the government has no current plans to make any changes.

A senior official mentioned that the intake capacity in IIMs will be doubled, from 9000 to almost 20,000 for postgraduate diploma courses. The directors of IIMs have accepted the idea and said a proposal will be submitted soon. No deadline date has been set as of now.

In the case of expansion of intake in PG diploma programmes, Javadekar explained that this would lead to a decrease in the faculty crunch currently faced by IIMs. He also mentioned that willing candidates will be offered better opportunities in fellowship.

The IIMs will also participate in a new initiative launched by the government to make 20 world-class universities/institutes. Out of these 20 world-class universities, the government wishes to establish, half will be in the public or government sector and the other half in the private sector.

IIMs will also actively participate in creating content for `Swayam', an information technology platform that will provide online courses on various subjects from class IX to UG and PG programmes.