M A I N   N E W S

IIMs allowed to go global
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 1
The Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Mr Arjun Singh, today assured the Directors of all six Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) that if they amended their memoranda of association, the government would not oppose their overseas expansion plans.

He, however, again said the IIMs first needed to cater to the Indian students, before they envisaged campuses and programmes abroad.

During a meeting with the six Directors here, he is said to have given the IIMs a go-ahead to go global, thereby resolving the conflict that had emerged following the government’s decision of not allowing IIM Bangalore to open a campus in Singapore.

Refuting that the government was opposed to the IIMs opening campuses abroad and also the allegations of tampering with their autonomy, he had earlier clarified that the IIMs could go abroad provided they met the prerequisite of amending their memoranda of association.

The IIM Directors in turn assured the minister that they were prepared to meet the requirements of the Indian students and would do whatever was needed. It was pointed out that IIM Directors had decided to enhance intake of students, a condition set by the government.