Undeterred by the Union Government’s proposed fee cut, the IIM-A plans to strengthen its faculty by hiring foreign experts and former students working abroad.‘‘We plan to hire experts, who can teach existing courses with a different approach, introduce new programmes, assist the PhD programme students and help the institute get a place among the top 20 business schools in the world,’’ says IIM-A director Bakul Dholakia.The institute plans to rope in at least eight professors, who have been teaching in internationally-acclaimed B-schools for over five years, for its new semester in June.Terming this as a first organised attempt by the IIM-A to appoint professors from abroad, Dholakia says: ‘‘We have had IIM passouts as our faculty members in the past. But, this year, we are focusing on those professors, who are settled abroad and are interested in being a part of the faculty here.’’The institute is using the network of IIM Alumni Association (Ahmedabad chapter) to rope in the teachers. Over 100 former students are settled abroad and have been requested to identify professors and provide feedback on whether they are keen to teach . ‘‘To attract students of foreign origin, we have to ensure that the faculty is abreast with the global economic scenario,’’ says Prof M.M. Monipally in the communication department, adding, ‘‘We are focusing on Indian professors, who are settled abroad, as salary demands of foreign-origin professors will be high.’’ Also, hiring faculty members of foreign origin will require permission from the government.Hiring professors settled abroad will help the institute revive certain programmes, like technology management, which had to be discontinued due to lack of infrastructure.Deepak Dheer, secretary of the alumni association, says ‘hiring of foreign experts will bring us greater recognition’’.
