Parliament gives nod to IIM bill 

Parliament gives nod to IIM bill 

Context

Parliament on Tuesday unanimously passed a Bill to grant the Indian Institutes of Management the power to grant degrees instead of post-graduate diplomas.

The Bill features

• As per the IIM Bill, 2017, a Board of Governors will appoint the Director of each IIM.
• The Bill also allows students to acquire doctoral degrees from the IIMs.
• The Bill, passed by the LokSabha earlier, was passed by the RajyaSabha on Tuesday.

Doctoral degrees

• Earlier, fellowships of the IIMs were not regarded as Ph.D.s, which led students to complete their diplomas and go abroad if they wanted to earn a doctoral degree.
• The hope is that the passage of this Bill will pave the way for more research at these prestigious institutions.
• The Bill also confers on the 20 IIMs the status of institutions of national importance, granting them greater functional autonomy by restricting the role of the government in them.
• Till now, the Centre had a role in the appointment of the chairpersons and directors to their Boards and also fixing the pay of the directors.
• As per the IIM Bill, 2017, a Board of Governors will appoint the Director of each IIM.
• A search-cum-selection-committee will recommend the names. And the director will be eligible for variable pay as determined by the Board