Thinking beyond IIMs and IITs now
So what is wrong with India's most guarded and hyped institutions of higher education, the IITs and the IIMs? Well, if you ask me, it's difficult to find what is right! The first question we must ask is what makes a great institution? A straight answer to this is a good course content and great faculty. While course content is copyable and quite standardised at least amongst the world's finest institutions, it is faculty that becomes the most important distinguishing factor. Different streams of education require different kinds of faculty expertise. Management education requires faculty members to have great communication skills and industry interface, and of course, regular research and writing. Similarly, undertaking research is a key aspect for the faculty at engineering colleges too. And this is where the IITs and the IIMs have a massive problem. There is a shortage of faculty at IITs that have about 900 posts vacant (as per University of Pennsylvania's 2008 docum...