IIM campus in Singapore

     New Delhi: The Centre today allowed Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore to set up their own campus in Singapore in return for increasing the number of seats in the domestic ones. The decision came after a 90-minute long meeting between the Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh and the directors of all the six IIMs. Coming out of the meeting, Arjun Singh said that the "Government does not like to interfere in the functioning of the IIMs" and was ready to allow the amendments necessary in the Memorandum of Associations (MoA) of the IIMs. The MoAs which act as the constitution for the IIMs had been the bone of contention between the ministry and the IIM. The amendment of the MoAs apart from deciding setting up of foreign campus also seeks to decide autonomy to the institutes, salary structures and non-intervention of the Government in matters such as acquiring property and making the boards more independent and accountable. IIM-B Director P.G. Apte told reporters after the meeting that they would be going ahead in their foreign expansion plan as the Government had assured of allowing the amendments. He also said that the foreign campus would not only help in improving the IIM brand, but would also help in building 'Brand India'.

     The Centre seems to have made the directors pay heed to his concern that IIMs should increase the number of seats in their respective domestic campus before moving to foreign shores, as Apte announced a 80 percent increase in the number of seats in its Bangalore campus. Similarly, Shanker Chaudhury, Director of IIM-Kolkata also proposed to increase its intake from the existing 270 students to 300 this year. Apte also said that more number of programmes would be launched in the coming years to make the students more aligned to global perspective. However, IIM-A is currently not planning to open its campus on foreign shores. IIM-Bangalore's ambitious plan to open a campus in the Singapore had received a setback earlier when the HRD ministry refused to give permission to its expansion plan before fulfilling the demands of the domestic student's need.

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