IIMs mull scheme to hire SC/ST as faculty

 Directors of 19 of the 20 Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) on Tuesday discussed ways to hire more people from socio-economically weaker sections as faculty.

"We are aware that we should have diverse faculty with different life experiences to teach our students. We want to make sure that people on the margins have the opportunity to be in the classroom (as faculty),” IIM-Ahmedabad Director Ashish Nanda said.

“Each IIM is committed to having people of the weaker backgrounds and under-represented minorities, at the same time maintaining the highest quality standards,” he added.

The discussion was part of the fourth three-day annual PAN IIM World Management Conference hosted by IIM-A, in which directors of IIMs and dean of IIM-Kozhikode are taking part. The meet showcased the example of IIM Kashipur’s special drive to enrol SC/ST doctoral students in fellowship programmes.

“We are in the middle of this special drive to bring in SC/ST doctoral students in the FPM programme where we will also train them to become IIM faculty,” Director of IIM Kashipur Gautam Sinha said.

Sinha said the newest b-school would assess the success of the experiment in five year’s time.

Other directors expressed eagerness to see the result of the experiment.
The IIMs’ move comes after their meeting with Union Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar in September.

Recently, IIM- Raipur also advertised for the special FPM programme for SC/ST candidates.