IIMs plan to take in foreign students for full-time courses

While the government is thinking of allowing IITs and IIMs to set up campuses abroad,the IIMs are planning to open doors for foreign students in fulltime courses.

While the government is thinking of allowing IITs and IIMs to set up campuses abroad,the IIMs are planning to open doors for foreign students in fulltime courses. The IIMs at present admit only Indian students to full-time courses. Some of them do admit NRIs but foreign students visit IIMs only for short duration as part of exchange programmes.

The idea,being discussed by the directors of the IIMs,is to admit a fixed number of foreign students through GMAT Graduate Management Aptitude Test. Foreign students would be competing among themselves for the limited seats. The purpose is to spread the ambit of IIMs beyond India,without disturbing the opportunities for Indian students.

We are having discussions on this. The plan is to set aside a certain number of seats either from the existing ones or by increasing the number in such a manner that the interest of the Indian students is not affected. The foreign students would not compete for seats meant for Indian students, said IIM-Lucknow director Devi Singh. The IIMs will begin by first admitting students from the neighbouring countries.

Rediff.com CEO and IIM-Kolkata chairman Ajit Balakrishnan is enthusiastic about the proposal,Once this works out,we can even have students from countries like the US. He said its a good idea because it would give exposure to students and widen their experience.

According to both Balakrishnan and Singh,infrastucture like faculty strength would not be problem. There is no longer any shortage of teachers. We are getting good teachers. The shortage disappeared especially after the slowdown. We are recruiting good teachers,some with experience in countries like the US, said Balakrishnan. Singh said IIM-Lucknow had also recruited teachers recently.