IITs, IIMs to be set up overseas - Ministry of HRD
By siliconindia   |    11 Comments
Printer Print Email Email
IITs, IIMs to be set up overseas - Ministry of HRD
Bangalore: Solution to faculty shortages, expansion plans to take Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) move beyond India. The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development has indicated that it may allow the IITs and IIMs to set up campuses in foreign countries. "Setting up of campuses abroad will not be feasible immediately, as there is faculty shortage. The institutes will have to undertake 54 percent expansion in their intake to implement the other backward class quota," said the ministry, reports Business Standard. The Minister of State for education D Purandeswari pinpointed that some memoranda of association will need to be amended, which presently, becomes a bar for any oversea campus establishment. The government, had earlier turned down a proposal of IIM Bangalore to open a campus in Singapore. The HRD Ministry did not agree to the proposal on grounds that the Memorandum of Association of IIM, Bangalore, does not empower the institute to open campuses abroad. IIMs, however, remain optimistic. "We would like to go abroad with the intention of spreading our name if the government permits us. IIMs are the leaders of education in the country and should be allowed to set campuses in developing countries. I think it was a missed opportunity for the IIMs as there is a huge potential out there," says IIM-Ahmedabad Director Samir Barua. Among developing countries, the IIMs favour the Middle East, Malaysia and Africa as these are the growing economies. Barua explained that IIM alumni and visiting faculty can be of help in manning the courses and that will also ensure the quality of delivery.

siliconindia