Mukesh may foot intl faculty salaries at IIM-B

Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani
is understood to have expressed interest in footing the salary bills
of international faculty at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM),
Bangalore.


A source said Ambani, who is on the governing board of the premier
IIM, had emphasised that the institute should recruit international
faculty to become world class at the institute's recent board
meeting.

"The board discussed hiring international faculty but we have not yet
worked out a detailed plan on this front. We will be taking a call on
the issue in the next couple of months and could put a proposal in
front of all board members," said a board member.

The institute could also approach the board members to raise funds for
the purpose.

Last year, Mukesh Ambani, who is also an alumnus of the Stanford
Graduate School of Business (GSB), had sponsored a GSB and IIM-B
student exchange programme under which 16 students of the institute
visited Stanford on a seven-day trip.

"Sponsoring the recruitment of international faculty could be another
step towards raising IIM-B's international portfolio and international
research," added the source.

None of the seven IIMs has international faculty on their rolls. Last
year, IIM-Ahmedabad was in talks with an international professor but
the deal fell through.

For IIMs, recruiting and retaining international faculty is a
challenging affair.

"Though we always welcome visiting faculty, we find that they do not
want to stay on a permanent basis on campus. However, NRI faculty, who
have been working with universities abroad do show interest in joining
us," said a professor from IIM Calcutta. Two new NRI professors have
joined IIM-C from the UK.

A major hindrance in attracting international faculty to IIMs is the
salary. At any IIM, an assistant professor's monthly income is
anywhere between Rs 35,000 and Rs 40,000 (it varies depending on the
consultancy fee from corporate assignments). An associate professor's
monthly income is Rs 40,000-45,000 and a professor's around Rs
54,000.

Conservative estimates peg a professor's salary in the US at anywhere
between $4,000 (around Rs 1.8 lakh) and $5,800 (around Rs 2.61 lakh)
per month. This income is over and above consultancy fees from
corporate assignments.