SWEDISH SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES NETWORK

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Visit to the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore,
Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Web page: http://www.iimb.ernet.in/

The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Bangalore has an international reputation in the field of management. There are currently six similar institutes in India (from August 2008, there will however also be an IIM in Shillong). All of them are financially supported by the Central Government (go for SASNET’s list of IIMs). The IIM in Bangalore was established in 1973.

The six (soon seven) IIMs are not considered universities by the UGC (University Grants Commission) but are autonomous institutions. They give diplomas equivalent to a Ph.D., but are not bound to the conditions that are set for an accredited university.

At present IIM in Bangalore comprises approximately 85 faculty members (including some visiting faculty). IIM offers Ph.D. and postgraduate programmes in management, and a number of shorter courses.

Apart from education and research, the Institute serves in the capacity of a consulting agency for the Indian Government and various organisations. The IIM is arranged in ten different centres.

The campus is large and has very modern facilities. With its enormous garden, it serves as an oasis in Bangalore (which, like many other large Indian cities, has a great deal of  pollution, and a volume of traffic that greatly exceeds the local infrastructure, making travel through the city tiresome), and it was a pleasure to take a walk there before our meeting.

Unfortunately, on the way to IIMB our taxi driver made a mistake. Instead of a simple 20 minutes drive to the institute, quite adjacent to the place where we were staying, he started to drive in the completely opposite direction – towards the Indian Institute of Science, IISc.
It took some time before we realized the mistake, and had to turn back. Therefore we missed by one hour the scheduled time for our first meeting at IIMB with the Director for Indian Institute of Management. He was on his way abroad, and could not wait for us. One of the very few unfortunate incidents during our month-long India tour.

Meeting at the Centre for Public Policy (CPP)

Web page: http://hrm.iimb.ernet.in/cpp/

Anyway, after this initial disappointment we had a good day at IIMB. We met with a group of faculty members at one of the centres: the Centre for Public Policy (CPP) since this department has collaborated with Sweden for a long time. Dr. Gita Sen at CPP has strong connections to Sweden, having collaborated both with the Dept. of Peace and Development Studies (Padrigu), School of Global Studies, Göteborg University, and also with Karolinska Institutet Medical University (KI) in Stockholm. In 2003 she was awarded an Honorary doctorate at KI, she had been suggested for the honorary position by Division of International Health (IHCAR).
Besides this, the CPP also has had a major exchange program with Göteborg University’s School of Business Economics and Law (more information about this collaboration).

CPP was established in 2000. Its aim is to improve the quality of governance in India and strengthen the academic discipline of public policymaking and management. Civil service officers receive their training here in specially designed courses. The researchers at CPP have produced a number of significant reports for the World Bank, the United Nations, and many other international organisations, in addition to organising conferences and workshops. At present there are 30 Ph.D. students at CPP, but that number will expand to 45 in the near future.
In 2008, CPP will organise its third International Conference on Public Policy and Management, with the theme ”Public Private Partnerships & Urban Governance”. The conference will be held 3–6 August in Bangalore. CPP actively seeks to have international collaborating partners spread all over the world. The Nordic collaboration partner for this conference will be the Department of Management, University of Vaasa in Finland. More information about the 2008 conference.

Gopal Naik and Chiranjib Sen.

Participants in the meeting:
Prof. Gopal Naik, Chair, Centre for Public Policy
Prof. Chiranjib Sen, Professor of Economics and Social Sciences
Prof. Vishnuprasad Nagadevara
Dr. Sankarshan Basu, Associate Professor
Dr. G. Ramesh, Associate Professor
Dr. Ani B Suraj, Visiting Faculty
Dr. Hema Swaminathan
Mr. S. Malathesh, Chief Programme Officer

The faculty members with whom we met were all very interested in SASNET and seemed to be eager to expand their collaboration with Swedish Universities. They were particularly eager to establish exchange programs for Ph.D. students, as well as faculty exchange and joint research projects. They told us they wished to learn more about the “Swedish Model” and Swedish public policy, including its public health system, transport, infrastructure, and education.

One diploma program at CPP offers a specific opportunity for collaboration with Sweden: CPP offers a two-year graduate program in Public Policy and Management. It is designed to equip mid-career civil servants with skills and techniques to formulate policy and engage in strategic management of public systems. The first year includes 7-8 weeks at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in the USA. The faculty members at CPP explained that they were looking for a way to diversify this program, so that graduate students could learn about systems other than the American one, and be exposed to other cultures.

After the meeting at the Centre for Public Policy, we were offered a delicious lunch in the special dining hall for staff and participants in management courses for executives organised by IIMB. We also took a walk around the spacious buildings surrounded by greenery in a beutiful campus area of IIMB.