Sibal asks IIMs not to hike fees

Bangalore, Apr 18 (ANI): Union Human Resource and Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal has asked the prestigious Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) not to hike the fees.

While interacting with the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the nine IIMs, Sibal said that the fee for the IIMs' flagship Post-Graduate Management Programme hurt the students coming from middle class families.

He opined that governance issues are a 'roadblock' in efficient functioning of IIMs and to chalk out a multi-pronged strategy on improving governance, enhancing resource generation.

"So IIMs, we believe, should be sourcing money from outside, from those who have passed through the system, - the alumni, sourcing money from business community, from industry. And how that is to be done, another loop has been setup to tell that," said Sibal.

"It is very difficult for academics to do this. We need some professional institutional management, how this is to be done. We have the strategy and look what should be done in near future," he added.

IIM-Ahmedabad, the top ranked of the nine IIMs, has hiked the fee sharply for the two-year course, from Rupees 1.25 million to Rs 1.37 million.

The fee was hiked after the IIMs raised the intake, due to implementation of the Other Backward Class (OBC) quota. (ANI)