AICTE notification is an assault on our autonomy, say Directors of top B-schools

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AICTE notification finds strong opposition from XLRI Director Fr. E.Abraham, XIME Director Prof J. Phillip, MDI's Acting Director Prof VK Gupta & TAPMI Director Dr. Saji Gopinath.

The AICTE’s rejection of the B-schools’ demand to withdraw the AICTE notification has added fuel to fire, forcing B-schools to consider seeking legal redressal. MBAUniverse.com met the Directors of top B-schools, XLRI Jamshedpur, MDI Gurgaon, TAPMI Manipal, XIME Bangalore, in New Delhi recently to get their reactions on the AICTE notification.

“AICTE notification is retrograde, unreasonable & illogical!”
Commenting on this, Fr. E. Abraham S.J., Director, XLRI Jamshedpur told MBAUniverse.com, “The AICTE notification is a retrograde step which takes us backwards. Over regulation brings down quality. PGDM institutes like XLRI, MDI, IMT have done good to the industry and nation. Some of the country’s most respected B-schools have been in existence for 15 to 60 years. Further, regulation constitutes a very small part of AICTE’s objectives. Why is there a need for over regulation now?”

Prof. J. Phillip, President & Director, XIME, Bangalore, and Founder, AIMS told MBAUniverse.com, “In this era of globalization, we cannot accept such archaic rules and regulations and if dialogue fails, we may have to go to court as a final measure. The PGDM institutions are doing yeoman service to the country. The AICTE’s notification is singling out PGDM institutions with harsh and unreasonable restrictions.”

The AICTE notification had stated, “All PGDM shall be of duration of not less than 24 months.”
“Top B-schools should have autonomy, or else we will fight this in court!”

MBAUniverse.com asked these eminent educators to recommend what they believe is the way forward, now that the AICTE has made its stand clear and shows no move to accommodate their demands for dialogue to reconsider the AICTE notification.

Recommending what the way forward should be, Fr. E. Abraham S.J. said, “An effective accreditation system has to be in place to check those institutions that are abusing the system. There should be reasonable classification based on performance. B-schools can be classified into A, B, C categories. Top B-schools must be given autonomy and flexibility to excel and spearhead innovations in management education. They should not be penalized or treated on par with those institutions that abuse the system.”

MBAUniverse.com will keep you posted on important developments. Stay tuned!