IIMs reject integrated interview proposal

The Indian Institutes of Management IIMs have rejected the Human Resource Development ministrys proposal of an integrated interview process for admission to the prestigious institutes...

The Indian Institutes of Management IIMs have rejected the Human Resource Development ministrys proposal of an integrated interview process for admission to the prestigious institutes.

The HRD ministry had asked all the 13 IIMs to admit students on the basis of an integrated interview process as recommended the Bhargava Committee,set-up by former HRD Minister Arjun Singh last year to review functioning of the IIMs.

The IIMs have reiterated the stand they took in response to the Committees recommendations. The IIT selection process is different from IIMs as admission is entirely rank based. At IIMs admission is not based on CAT scores alone. Group discussions and personal interview also decide the final admission of each student. There is simply no possibility of holding an integrated interview at IIMs, an IIM official said.

At present,each IIM invites students who get through the Common Admission Test CAT for an interview to admit them. The Integrated interview process envisages that a panel representing all IIMs will interview the candidates. The candidate who clears it should either be allocated one of the 13 IIMs or allowed to choose one herself.

The ministrys contention is that with seven new IIMs being set up in the country,it would be hard for candidates to get interviewed separately for each of the 13 IIMs,so a single interviewing system on the lines of the one used by the IITs should be put in place.

However,IIMs,which have always taken pride in their individual character and rejected any attempts at bracketing them in a uniform system,are not willing to accept the interference in their admission process. Their rejection of the proposal comes a day after the Union cabinet announced setting up of seven new IIMs. Four of these will start academic sessions next year with under the guidance of existing IIMs,another suggestion that has not gone down well with the IIMs.

Meanwhile,faculty at the IIMs is set to follow the IIT faculty to protest the pay hike8211;which they say is insufficient8211; notified by the HRD ministry earlier this month.

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There will soon be faculty meetings on the 6th Pay Commission and what the government has notified for IIM faculty. The issues raised by the faculty at IITs are very valid and there is a similar feeling at IIMs. The issue will be taken up with the ministry, IIM sources said.

The IIT faculty is protesting the pay hike as even the revised salary structure is not attractive enough to draw new faculty or retain existing faculty.

The IIM faculty argues the Bhargava Committee had also recommended higher salaries for them to retain talent and draw young faculty.