JOIN USThe Ministry of Human Resource Development has conveyed its plan of “upgrading” hostel and other accommodation facilities to chairpersons and directors of all 13 Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) at a meeting here this week, asking them to review the current status of these facilities in their respective institutions.
It also asked each of the IIMs to give a rough estimate of the expenditure required to incur on upgrading of accommodations for their students and faculties, so that further steps could be taken to arrange funds for the purpose.
The ministry also wants to upgrade hostel and residential facilities for students and faculties at the Indian Institutes ofTechnology (IITs) too, a top HRD ministry official told Deccan Herald.
While Union Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal has himself conveyed ministry’s plan to IIMs, the IITs would soon be consulted on the issue. “The plan is to start with IIMs, and then gradually move towards providing world-class hostel and accommodation facilities for students and faculties at IITs and other higher educational institutions in the next few years,” he added.
The Ministry is also wants to more attract more foreign students besides foreign faculties to India in higher educational institutions.
To project India as hub of higher educational institutions, the HRD ministry has decided to conduct road shows in different parts of the globe.
“We have decided to expose to the world what India has to offer in education sector. In order to build diversity on campus and attract international students without affecting the national intake, it has been decided that IIMs could jointly organise an international road-show pooling their resources for the purpose,” the ministry official said.
The ministry of HRD has already created a web portal to facilitate authentic information to foreign students and those seeking faculty positions in higher educational institutions in India.
The government has recently approved a scheme for promoting research in IIMs and increasing the output of PhDs from each of the existing IIMs. A sum of Rs 95 crore has been approved for an additional 100 PhDs from the IIMs, the offIcial said.