No new Indian Institutes of Management to come up in the country for the next three years at least. According to information available from the MHRD, this decision has been taken keeping the number of IIMs which have mushroomed all over the country in the recent years with little check on ‘deliverables.’

According to sources, the government has now decided to stress on quality instead of quantity. “The 11th Five-year Plan looked at quantity and that is why so many IIMs came up all over. But the 12th Five-year Plan will looking at upgrading the quality at all these institutes, especially the new ones,” said an official at MHRD.

The government, apparently has taken note that while many IIMs came up all over the country, not all of them are able to set high standards. Added to that was the fact the infrastructure was not able to keep pace. Almost all the new ones are functioning from rented places and seeking a campus of their own. While some have land allocated, some are still fighting for land. Others are yet to begin construction for a new campus.

Besides, faculty remains a big issue with the new IIMs, with some of them having started operations with only one permanent faculty member. Though, this issue has been partially taken care of by the ‘mentor’ and older IIMs. The 12th Five-year Plan also envisages that all centrally-funded institutes will have to compulsorily adopt one community college for development of skills.

Another point of worry for the MHRD has been the constant niggling between the older and newer IIMs. While the institutes have never really admitted to differences, the fact that there are a few, is quite obvious. PaGaLGuY spoke to a few concerned people in the IIMs and all said that approach to issues is bound to be different given the difference years of existence. “While some IIMs are over 50 years old, some are not even three years, there is bound to be a clash in thinking and there are different problems to settle,” justified one official from an older IIM.

Obviously, the MHRD is aware of the fact that there is a huge gap in years of existence between the older and news IIMs. What it is simply expecting is more co-operation between all the IIMs so that they function as one large unit with one train of thought instead of the different strains one has been getting to hear.