Of Committee-led Governance and the first Postgraduate Programme (PGP) Committee

SEPIA ECHOES

Of Committee-led Governance and the first Postgraduate Programme (PGP) Committee

"A key principle that the institute's leadership adopted to develop such a culture of self-regulation was that faculty should learn to balance the autonomy and freedom they were granted with a certain accountability for desired outcomes."

One feature that marked the development of IIMA in the early decades was the attention to developing processes that promoted self-regulation, not through the imposition of formal rules, but through the evolution of norms and conventions of behaviour. A key principle that the institute's leadership adopted to develop such a culture of self-regulation was that faculty should learn to balance the autonomy and freedom they were granted with a certain accountability for desired outcomes. The demand made on them was, therefore, the development of a sense of internal discipline that could guide individual and collective action. This, in essence, was the meaning that the initial leaders like Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, Professor Ravi Matthai and others who followed them, attributed to 'faculty governance', something that many consider to be at the base of IIMA's development.

***Announcement of the first PGP, Times of India, November 18, 1963.***

The expectation that faculty members would develop a sense of internal discipline to ensure a balance between autonomy and accountability, and thereby create and nurture a culture of self-regulation, emanated from what the leaders felt was the right thing to do. There was nothing in the original charter or the rules that granted this role to the faculty body. How was this expectation translated into practice? Through the committee mechanism. The directors constituted various committees to ensure that all faculty members had the opportunity to participate in their activities and learn the culture of self-regulation. These committees tended to shift the locus of power from the director to the faculty body, and in a way, upheld the value of group decision making. The chairs of committees derived their power not from the director or their position, but from their colleagues who were members of these committees (1). It is possible that decision making by such committees can become frustrating and time consuming, but it did help in building faculty commitment to the tasks they undertook.

***The first PGP Committee in session, with Prof. Warren Haynes, Chairperson, at the head of the table.***

Perhaps the most important committee in the early days was the Postgraduate Programme Committee, a body that included all the faculty members teaching in the PGP, and which had sub-committees to look after critical tasks such as admissions and placements. The first committee, formed in September 1963, was chaired by Professor Warren Haynes, who was Harvard Business School's Project Director in India for about 20 months. Key members of the committee included Professors V. L. Mote and Kamla Chowdhry. This committee started with the planning for the first batch that was to commence in July 1964. The advertisement for the first offering of the PGP came out on November 18, 1963. The institute received 7300 enquiries and 739 applications; each application was accompanied by a fee of Rupees Ten. The first sub-committee of the PGP Committee was the first Admission Committee, which visited various cities in the country and interviewed over 350 shortlisted candidates. The Admissions Committee was chaired by Prof. C. N. S. Nambudiri and had Profs. V. L. Mote and Asghar Karim as members. This committee drew up a 'prime list' of 62 candidates and a 'wait list' of 15. Finally, the first batch had 58 students of whom 48 graduated in April 1966.

Inauguration of first PGP, July 1, 1964, from left to right: Prakash Tandon, Kasturbhai Lalbhai,
Chinubhai Chimanbhai Sheth, and Balvantray Mehta (Chief Minister of Gujarat).

The first PGP was inaugurated on July 1, 1964 by Balvantray G. Mehta, Chief Minister of Gujarat. The inaugural function was held at the ATIRA Auditorium. The institute did not have its own campus at that time, and the classrooms were rooms in ATIRA taken on rent.

***A placement interview on campus (Source. Fifth IIMA Annual Report, 1966-1967, Pg. 32).***

The Placement Committee was constituted in September 1964--a new experience for educational institutions in the 1960s. Of the 48 students who graduated, 37 sought the services of the Placement Committee. By December 1966, all of them had been placed. The minimum emoluments, i.e., salary and other allowances, were Rs. 575 per month, and the maximum amounted to Rs. 1,200 per month. Students with technical and engineering backgrounds were paid slightly higher than the others. In the initial years, the Placement Committee members found it quite a challenge to convince prospective employers about the value that could be added by formally trained management graduates.

The first batch (and the batches that followed up to the 1975 convocation) graduated with a diploma in 'Business Administration'. The title awarded became 'Postgraduate Diploma in Management' only at the 1976 convocation, when the institute had to accommodate graduates specializing in agriculture in its postgraduate programme. The diploma survived until 2018, after which the batch graduating in 2019 received an MBA degree--IIMA started granting degrees that year under the IIM Act 2017.

The PGP Committee's role today is played by the Academic Council, the faculty body set up under the provisions of the IIM Act, 2017. The responsibility for devising and modifying all policies related to academic planning and implementation rests with the Academic Council. In practice, the executive committee to which a number of powers used to be delegated by the PGP Committee in former times, has come to be perceived as more directly connected with all academic matters related to the programme. The executive committee is headed by a Chairperson. Apart from dealing with the design and delivery of the programme and recommending changes to the Academic Council, the executive committee also deals with student exchange programme and dual-degree programmes, recommends the programme fees to the Director, prepares the programme budget and forwards it to the director, sorts out matters of academic indiscipline. The Chairperson of PGP also chairs the Courses Committee, which deals with the review and approval of courses that go into the PGP. The Admissions Committee proposes the eligibility criteria for the PGP to the PGP Executive Committee for approval, but otherwise functions independently, as before on all matters related to admission. The Placement Committee functions independently, carrying out the mandate given to it by the Academic Council. The way 'faculty governance' is understood may have changed over the years, but the 'committee approach', with members of the committees developing an internal discipline that guides individual and collective decision making, and helps nurture a culture of self-regulation, continues to this day.

(1) For further details, see Matthai, R. J. (1993). The underlying basis of IIMA organisation. In Institution building: The IIMA experience (Vol. 1. The early years). Ahmedabad: Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad.