The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) will soon start awarding degrees instead of diplomas.
A decision to that effect was taken at a meeting of directors of various IIMs here Tuesday. The meeting was presided over by Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal.
Disclosing this here Wednesday, Lucknow IIM director Devi Singh said, "it was widely felt that degrees would help the pass-outs to negotiate more conveniently with foreign employers who were more familiar with the degree system rather than diploma."
According to him, the HRD minister too felt that this move was in appositive direction and would put students on a stronger footing as some foreign countries considered diploma inferior to degree. "Once we start awarding degrees, those passing out of IIMs would not be deprived of parity with some of the top management schools across the globe, who treated diploma as inferior to degree", he pointed out.
Significantly, the IIMs' Review Committee had recommended award od degrees instead of diplomas for all the IIMs. However, what came in the way was the rule that allows only universities to award degrees. "Since IIMs do not enjoy the status of university, the Union government will have to work out the modalities to empower IIMs to issue degrees", said the IIM director.
The news has been widely welcomed by the faculty and students alike. "Students seeking admission for higher studies will be particularly benefitted as they would not have to do anymore explaining on how and why the Business Management Diploma awarded by IIMs was at par in every respect with any other management degree", said a senior IIM professor.
"Let us hope the HRD minister fulfils his promise soon so that all of us passing out in the next batch get degrees", observed a final year student.
