Hyderabad: The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, is finally setting up its ‘seamless’ campus in the city. While the governing council of the premier Bschool communicated its decision to the state government on June 24, the chief minister’s office released the same late on Monday evening.
It was in August last year when this newspaper had first reported that IIM-A would set up its ‘extended’ campus in Hyderabad and that the government had even granted 150 acres of land for the project, virtually for free of cost at Rs one per acre along with a grant of Rs 100 crore.
The decision was taken last year when state government officials had met the board of governors of the institute last year.
The plan chalked out then indicated that the seamless campus at Hyderabad would be bigger than the Ahmedabad location and have ultramodern facilities. However, the B-school took time to give the project shape reportedly due to the political uncertainty in the state owing to Telangana agitation.
Last month, CM K Rosaiah wrote to Vijaypat Singhania, chairman, board of governors, IIM-A, stating how AP had welcomed prestigious institutes to set up their campuses here. In this letter, he expressed his happiness over IIM-A taking the consent of both the faculty council and the governing council to set up its campus in Hyderabad.
While the project would propel Hyderabad into a premier educational hub in the country, IIM-A is looking at this campus to generate money through short-term executive courses hoping that the IT, biotechnology and infrastructure hub that Hyderabad is would attract many to join up.
The YSR Reddy government had thought of the seamless IIM-A campus after the Centre made it clear that a new IIM cannot be granted for Hyderabad since it already has an IIT. Since there was no provision for an IIM for Andhra Pradesh in the 12th Five-Year Plan (2013-18) as well, a seamless IIM-A campus would be an extension of the one at Ahmedabad and not another new campus. This was thought so that the Union HRD ministry would not have any objection.
Apart from the flagship PGDM course, the seamless campus would offer a slew of new ones as well as optional courses that students from Ahmedabad can enlist for a short-term, sources said.