An Open Varsity on Anvil : K N PANIKKAR, Chairman: kerala state higher education council

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July 6, 2009

The Council has a higher education scholarship fund for which we hope to collect INR 100 crores

Please throw some light on the opportunities and challenges of higher education in Kerala in particular and southern states of India in general?

Generally, there is considerable value attached to higher education in Southern States. As a result there has been considerable investment, both private and public, in higher education right from the colonial times. That in a way explains the large presence of South Indians in bureaucracy and administration. Lately there is a shift in investment towards professional education, particularly in medicine and engineering. The opportunities in these two fields are very high in South.

Kerala is ahead of the nation in terms of access to higher education. It is about 17% now. However the main challenge is the improvement in the quality of education. Higher education in Kerala has not been able to keep up with the advances in many a field.

What do you think is the role of ICT in strengthening the state of higher education in Kerala?

ICT is now a very crucial factor in higher education. In the new educational revolution taking place all over the world the most important input comes from ICT. Kerala is relatively undeveloped in this sphere and efforts are now on to integrate ICT into the traditional system. The new Open University which the State is going to set up soon is going to use ICT as its basic facility.

How has the Council been able to enhance the quality of education?

The Kerala State Higher Education Council is a new body, set up only about two years back. It is trying to delineate its space in Higher education. It is primarily an advisory body of the government, devoted to the improvement in the quality of education. In the process it mediates between the government and the universities. It does not interfere with the autonomy of the universities. In its structure and functioning it is a collective of the universities, the Council and the government. The Council is of the opinion that the enhancement of the quality of education requires massive modernization, both in infrastructure and content. The Council is working towards several schemes of quality improvement.

What are the new concepts and programmes in higher education that have been evolved by the Council?

The Council has undertaken an academic mapping of the state by which we have collected all relevant data about the state of higher education. The most important programme is the restructuring of the undergraduate programme by which an open system is sought to be put in place. It consists of choice based course credit system with semsterisation. Apart from that we have also set up cluster of colleges which would help decentralise academic administration and sharing of resources.

Are there any schemes that the council has evolved for providing equitable opportunities for higher education and scholarships?

The Council has a higher education scholarship fund for which we hope to collect 100 crores of rupees. The purpose is to finance all needy students and to promote the study of social sciences, humanities and basic sciences to which students are not attracted now.

What kind of facilitating role the Council plays in order to provide inter-likages among state government, universities, colleges and other institutions of higher education?

The Council has sponsored a large number of projects in order to generate critical studies on the state of education. They are being undertaken by established scholars and we hope they will form a major in put for policy formulation and academic reforms.

Council plays the role of a coordinating agency and a facilitator for the dissemination of ideas. It also undertakes the task of building consciousness among the academic community about new schemes and programmes. In case of the introduction of the reformed undergraduate programme the Council conducted about 150 workshops. It also facilitated workshops of Board of Studies for preparing syllabus for the new courses.

Please share your leadership vision with our readers. Where does the Council go from its present state?

The Council`s main interest in the near future would be to formulate an educational policy which would ensure social justice and enhance the quality of education of education.

The Council is very conscious of the role the private agencies have played in the advancement of education in the state. It is necessary to further mobilise the private resources. But then it should not lead to commercialisation of education. A public controlled public private participation is necessary so that the poor and the marginalised are not deprived of quality education.

Secondly, most of the energy and finances are spent on professional education. All good students opt for it. A major challenge for the council is how to rectify this imbalance so that there is fair attraction for other subjects. The restructuring of the undergraduate system it is hoped, would attract the students to the humanities, social sciences and pure sciences. In nut shell the future engagements of the council would be to create a new academic culture in the State.

GlobalScholar Solution in a Box : Hari Verma Nadimpalli, GlobalScholar

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July 6, 2009

GlobalScholar is an education technology company providing the education community, TAPS (Teachers, Administrators, Parents and Students) with a robust suite of tools branded as `Pinnacle`, dedicated to the complete cycle of learning. Digital Learning talks to the Vice President, Hari Verma Nadimpalli, to find out the leading age solutions and transformation opportunities the company provides.

We are working with state governments to establish a proof of concept that the technology we offer will take us closer towards the goal of “Equal Education for all”. Many governments now understand that the only way to achieve their ambitious education programmes is to Engage, Educate, Empower the teachers first

With a wide range of products on offer, how do you see the GlobalScholar products cater to the demands of the Indian market?
GlobalScholar solutions are designed to work in harmony to orchestrate a complete cycle of learning. What begins as driving a unified and properly mapped educational curriculum passes through robust online and offline assessments, powerful data driven teacher decision support, and a unique platform to enable differentiated instruction. From there the system goes on to engage a larger community of administrators, parents and other student life coaches, adding that special part of “knowing someone cares”, required to support the human side of the educational process. Next, strong analytical discovery allows unprecedented accuracy in teachers and administrators remolding the pathways of the cycle. The journey ends right back where it begins, empowering students to take control of their own learning process by bringing both transparency and opportunity to every learning style and every learning ability. We also provide courses for teacher training on 21st century teaching skills, standards based education, technology for learning including content in our platform.

What are the courses available through GlobalScholar platform?

We offer a technology platform, where you have the complete freedom to define, develop and deliver any course to the students. We provide a tool to the educators, with the exception of the content. We are partnered with organisations that provide digitised content that can be aligned with the curriculum and course and be personalised to the needs of the educational institution. As we go along, we will seek many such partnerships with strategic content providers, giving our customers a wide range of content to choose from.

What are the strategic mechanisms that are put to use for delivering end-to-end solutions?

To deliver end to end solutions, we offer consulting support to advocate best practices encompassing the entire solution. Our work starts with engaging the key stakeholders (teachers and administrators) within the school to understand their challenges and define priorities. This is followed by an implementation, where our implementation teams work with the teachers to put the solution together. Training is another critical success factor to ensure adoption of the solution. Going forward we will adopt a “Solution in a Box” concept, which means our platform will be delivered with curriculum, plan book, assessments and digital content preloaded and integrated with hardware solutions like digital whiteboards and interactive response systems. This will cut down on implementation cycles thus directly offering cost and time benefits to our customers.

Are there any collaborative efforts with the Government? What are the core objectives behind the collaboration, if any?

We are working with a few state governments to establish a proof of concept that the technology we offer will take us closer towards the goal of `Equal Education for all`. Many governments now understand that the only way to achieve their ambitious education programmes is to `Engage, Educate, and Empower` the teachers first. To solve for the quality teachers and also make them effective, we have created a specific solution for the India market that doubles up as a teacher training tool in addition to the tool being used in the classroom by the teacher to deliver the lesson. This way every teacher adheres to a standard process and the quality of instruction across several schools, districts and the entire state can be better controlled. That would be the first step in moving towards the goal of “equal education for all”. Our platform has enabled this goal in various school districts in North America and we believe we would be able to replicate that success in India.

What are the challenges that need to be addressed in order to give a boost to the socio-economic situation in India?

As it is with every foundational need in an economy, be it education or healthcare, the challenges are always around.

Accessibility to good quality education is a challenge in our country. Not only do we have a shortfall of schools but most of our existing schools struggle to impart good education. In my opinion, the low hanging fruit to solving for this is to improving the quality of all the existing schools by improving teacher quality and instructional practices.

Affordability is a big issue especially with rising land and building costs. Reducing overall infrastructure costs and driving efficiencies in administrative as well as instructional processes will help in making quality education affordable. Another solid strategy in making education affordable is leveraging technology for distance learning.

Credibility ensuring that the output of our education system is adding value to the overall economy is ultimate litmus test. Our schools and colleges should churn professionals who can help India compete successfully with other world economies in all walks of life viz. Engineering, science, medicine arts et al. In order to achieve this, our courses/ content, instructional practices and teachers should be of outstanding quality and the learning we deliver should move away from lower-order critical thinking towards cognitive learning.

What are your future plans and consequent logical steps to enhance your presence?

Our future plans revolve around building our business based on improving student outcomes and results. To do that, we need to be a choice of technology for teachers in the classrooms across the nation. I think our biggest challenge right now is to educate the administrators, academicians and curriculum experts about the capabilities of our platform. The next biggest challenge is change management. We will forge strategic partnerships with content, curriculum players like publishers and other hardware providers to provide a comprehensive solution, but one that is simple to use and offers better student results/ outcomes in schools.

ODL: A Vehicle for Access and Equity

Interviews

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digitalLEARNING Network

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July 6, 2009

The Tamil Nadu Open University was established to benefit those who have been deprived of and denied access to higher education, especially destitutes, physically challenged, working men and women and economically weaker sections. The University offers many programmes in various disciplines and aims to reach the hitherto unreached. Digital Learning presents more about these academic activites while in conversation with the Vice Chancellor,

Women, particularly from the rural areas, form 50 % of the current student population. Our Course materials, especially in Tamil Medium are well received by the students. This is one of the major reasons for the increase in student enrolment.

What is the vision of the Tamil Nadu Open University (TNOU)?

Tamil Nadu Open University began its Academic activities in mid-2003. Barely 6 years into operation, this University offers 600 Courses in 114 Programmes at various levels- ranging from professional, including paramedical, to TVET- catering to a cumulative learner enrolment about 2, 10,000. Further, the TNOU has emerged as the only ODL Institution in the State to have learning packages that include quality self-learning materials in print with CD supplements. As regards meeting the learning needs of the students, a robust support services network of about 1000 TNOU Learning Centres is in place. In statistical terms, there is one Learning Centre for every 100 learners.

What impact has TNOU had on increasing access and enrollment ratio in higher education, especially in weaker, socio-economic areas?

The TNOU has made tremendous impact on the weaker and socio-economic areas. Women, particularly from the rural areas, form 50 % of the current student population. Our Course materials, especially in Tamil Medium are well received by the students. This is one of the major reasons for the increase in student enrolment. The TNOU Centres are established even in the remotest places. The University has its Centres across India. Most of the Courses of TNOU are job-oriented and directly linked with employment and offered through Community Colleges. So, the students from poor background find these Courses very useful. A number of Courses are designed targeting the women population, especially those at homes.

The Community College initiative of the University targets mainly the school dropouts in the rural poor and urban slum areas in Tamil Nadu and a few other States in India. The Programmes offered through the Community Colleges have been implemented through the School of Continuing Education of the TNOU. The feedback given by the industrial partners, who have taken the learners for apprenticeship, shows a high level of satisfaction about the performance of the learners. The feedback also reveals that nearly 80 percent of these learners, who were dropouts have got immediate employment in the relevant industries, and some of them have become entrepreneurs as well. Observing the success story of these learners, the Government of Tamil Nadu has issued order for recognition of Community Colleges attached to the Tamil Nadu Open University, and also to provide vertical mobility for their further studies in addition to providing scholarships to the tune of INR 1crore to these poor students who otherwise will remain as school dropouts.

Despite major reforms in India`s higher education sector, we have not yet been able to match up to the demand for skilled workforce. What do you think are the reasons for this?

One of the major reasons is the absence of robust curricula that bridge the world of academics and that of worth. This University has been aware of this gap and has been offering Programmes that are socially relevant and demand driven.

Can our higher education system through open and distance learning measure up to other Asian countries like Singapore and Malaysia? What do you think are the main challenges?

Indications are that already the higher education system has started using Open and Distance Learning (ODL) as a vehicle for access and equity in education. IITs, IIMs and many other Universities have started Distance Education Cells, employing ODL methods through them. NPTEL is one such example. IIMA has opened its campus in Singapore and the Middle East. Many Indian Universities are collaborating with foreign Universities in the Tele-Education programmes. With the kind of quality education we provide, India has the potential much more than Singapore, Malaysia and other Asian countries. Indian higher education system is currently exploring ways to spread its wings through twining, franchising, off shoring, consortia arrangements, credit transfers, etc.

In what ways can an effective industry-academic collaboration build our education capacity? What learning can be taken from TNOU in this line?

TNOU has an effective Industry-Institute Interface since its inception. Most of the programmes have industry partnership or atleast with the people from the relevant industries. For example, the courses related to Four Wheeler Mechanism, Beautician, Refrigerator Maintenance, House Electrician, Nursing, Fashion Designing, Apparel Manufacturing, Computer Hardware, DTP Operation, Catering, Multimedia, Animation, Garment Making, Mobile Phone Servicing, Home Appliances, etc, are run by the people from the concerned industries only. The role of TNOU is to identify the demand, frame the syllabus, identify the particular partnership industry, launch the programme and conduct the examinations. In the majority of the industry related courses, the role of the industry is much higher than that of TNOU.

What are the future plans of TNOU, in terms of usage of ICTs in education?

Already 11 TNOU Coordinating Centres are identified to install the ICT facilities. They act as nodal centres of TNOU. Electronic instruments are also supplied to them partially. The faculty can teach from the EMPRC studio at TNOU and simultaneously the students at all these 11 Centres may interact.

E-Content in many subjects had been developed with the collaboration of e-Content management companies like Expertus, i-Grandee, etc. They are in the form of CDs which are to be distributed to the learners.
One FM Community Radio will be established shortly for the benefit of TNOU students.
TNOU has embarked on a 4

Grid Connect in Kerala : Dr. Elizabeth Sherly, Director (i/c): Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management-Kerala

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digitalLEARNING Network

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July 6, 2009

IIITM-K is a premier institution of excellence in Science, Technology and Management that develops professionals and leaders of high calibre imbued with values of entrepreneurship, ethics, and social responsibility. IIITM-K has actively promoted higher education and industry across Kerala and beyond through its IT facilitated education programmes and services. Digital Learning, in conversation with Dr Elizabeth, elicits information on IITM-K and its role in establishment of Virtual Learning Environment through the Education Grid in Kerala.

IIITM-K assists the colleges in establishing systems and servers in the colleges that are necessary for the practice of TELT. Several capacity building programmes are conducted to promote TELT using NPTEL

What is the overall scenario of technology in Higher Education in Kerala?

In last several decades, due to the technology advancement and the availability of high bandwidth Internet connections, there is a tremendous transformation in the philosophy of education system worldwide. The classical approach of education, merely classroom learning and exam centric system as a pursuit of knowledge has undergone a significant change. However, it is obvious that the present education system consisting of the colleges, universities and institutions, governed by a system of government bodies such as the MHRD, UGC, AICTE, etc are only regulatory bodies, but hardly sufficient to touch upon quality of education.

Kerala government have taken several steps to increase the number of seats in the professional and higher education in general by opening large number of engineering and other colleges and courses. In Kerala there are now about 100 engineering colleges, which include government, semi-government and private colleges. But, providing quality education, or education with relevance to current and emerging trends in these institutions is a challenge. Lack of quality, experienced and motivated teachers, capacity to make adaptations to the curricula aligned with emerging trends and capacity to manage modern information and computational systems and services are a few to list.

Kerala Education Grid attempts to ?ll this void in our education system by providing such knowledge and computing resources, content development and maintenance and processes that help sustain quality in the education system.

Could you elaborate on the Education Grid?

Education Grid is a suite of systems and processes that provides for IT facilitated collaboration of institutions, universities and colleges for technology enhanced learning environment. Education Grid was developed by the Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, Kerala (IIITM-K) for establishing Virtual Learning Environment and aims at enhancing quality of education through Technology Enhanced Learning in the colleges and universities.

What is the functioning structure and current status of the Education Grid Resource Centres?

The education grid project established key Resource Centres in premier institutions of Kerala and the Governing Council and the Apex Project Coordination Unit (APCU) had identified the following institutions as key Resource Centres (EGRCs); (i) Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, Kerala (IIITM-K) (ii) College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram (CET) (iii) Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) (iv) National Institute of Technology, Calicut (NIT-C) Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, Kerala (IIITM-K) besides being the Key Resource Centre (EGRC) was also the Education Grid Operational Centre (EGOC). The EGOC at IIITM-K provides the management, technology and coordination.

How is the Education Grid related to the National Programme for Technology Enhanced Learning?

The National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) project by MHRD, a joint venture by seven Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc). Under this, NPTEL is ready with content in the form of full suites of about 40 Recorded Video Lectures (RVL) in each course for 110 courses that are taught in the undergraduate engineering curricula of the country. Further supplementary web content is available in 120 courses. The APCU of education grid and NPTEL experts in a meeting decided to share the best practices and experiences and avoid duplication of efforts.

IIITM-K besides hosting and helping in the distribution of NPTEL content also assists the colleges in establishing systems and servers in the colleges that are necessary for the practice of TELT. It conducts several capacity building programmes to promote TELT using NPTEL and other open content under its Education Grid Service.

What is the impact of the Education Grid that you foresee in the future?

By and large, it is important to note that the Education Grid project has immensely facilitated to the a large number of students and organisations, also rejuvenated the entire higher education system using technology enhanced web based e-learning and collaborative systems. This is the ?rst of its kind in India, that a framework for content development and collaborative knowledge sharing system with a unique pedagogy for Technology Enhanced Learning System as a supplementary for learning to improve the higher education is launched.

Despite the remarkable intellectuals and high marks that Indian students get, the institutions of higher education are facing many challenges from globalisation. To meet the demands of globalisation, the government must spend more on education, increase student access, yet also extend greater autonomy to universities. More funding combined with greater flexibility will strengthen the capability and secure talent within the country. India`s rigid regulation of education retards the intellectual growth of its institutions, diminishing their ability to compete with global talent. A ?exible system with the boosting of Technology enhanced Learning and Teaching model can definitely create a greater impact on quality education in India. We have miles to go, with the education grid project. This requires more intellectual and ?financial support. The possibility of continuing and running the project as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) is under consideration. We invite parties of industry, academic and private or public organisation to jointly work for KEG.

Better quality Education seeks PPP

Corporate Updates

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digitalLEARNING Network

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July 6, 2009

The education industry is looking at an increased public-private partnership (PPP) in educational and training initiatives for matching skill-set demands of the industry with the available talent. Education is among a few sectors that has been insulated from the impact of a global economic slowdown but faces a huge challenge of reducing the gap of educated yet unemployable talent.

‘We would like to see more investment in PPP programmes to improve education quality at the bottom of the pyramid,’ said Shantanu Prakash, chief executive officer and managing director, Educomp Solutions Ltd, a leading private player in the sector.

The country has a total of 219 million students of which 40 % are enrolled with private schools while about 142 million children are not in the school system. About 75,000 private schools account for only 7% of the total institutions. ‘Indian education and training sector has not received the attention it deserves,’ said Ninad Karpe, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Aptech.

The Confederation of Indian Industries has recommended that the government should strengthen initiatives to involve participation from foreign and private universities for technical education. The industry body has also said that there is a need to introduce interdisciplinary projects, upgrade existing courses with industry requirement and introduce independent accreditation systems. International brokerage firm CLSA estimates the size of the private education market in India to be worth US$40 billion (about INR 190,000 crore) with the Kindergarten to Grade 12 (K-12) segment valued at US$20billion and private professional colleges at US$7 billion.

Registration to be made for Indian students going Abroad

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July 6, 2009

In future, the Indian authorities are to register all the Indian students going abroad for higher education, parliament was told Wednesday. This will be part of the government's e-governance project aimed at making the process of emigration 'simple, orderly and transparent,' Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi said in the Lok Sabha.

A database of Indian students going abroad is targeted for completion by the end of 2010, the minister added. 'The ministry has undertaken e-governance in emigration project to transform the process of mobility of Indian workers and students going abroad into a simple, orderly and transparent process through an IT platform,' told Vayalar Ravi during the question hour.

IGNOU and IBM partner to revamp ICT Education in India

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July 6, 2009

Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), The Advanced Center for Informatics and Innovative Learning (ACIIL) and IBM India have signed an MoU that will reinvent and reform IT education in the country. The collaboration, co-operation and joint working of IBM, with IGNOU, will bridge the gap that exists between education, skills and national development. As a part of the MoU, IGNOU and IBM India will partner to skill students on the IT standards in the emerging verticals like healthcare, financial services and retail that have a significant growth potential, in addition to the skills demand of Open Source software and Open Standards, with live projects.

Under the MoU, the first phase will offer three programs that will include a certificate in open source software, diploma in open source software and industry vertical domain open standards, and advanced diploma in industry vertical domain open standards (healthcare/ retail/ insurance). The Innovation Center for Open Standards (iCos), an online platform, will be the underlying framework for the engagement between IBM and IGNOU for the execution of the courses. The IBM iCos platform links students' project-based learning with IT industry and mentors. This will be seamlessly integrated into IGNOU's in house developed Unified Learning Platform in due course. This effort will fill up the Finishing School efforts of the IT Industry today, enabling DAY One deployment. The students will immensely benefit from the flexibility of learning at their own pace, anytime, anywhere, anyhow and make the students future-ready. IBM said it has a long-standing commitment to furthering education, including its IBM Academic Initiative, which offering a wide range of technology education benefits from free to fee that can scale to meet the goals of most colleges and universities. IBM will work with universities and colleges that support Open Standards and seek to use Open Source and IBM technologies for teaching purposes, both directly and virtually via the Web. IGNOU's Unified Learning model, which is being launched shortly, will support all learning models such as face-to-face, online, in-line, print based, self learning, Web-based and thus match with the flexibility of learning at one's own pace, anywhere, anytime, anyhow. The continuous assessment will enable skills development, to match with the emerging global demands of industrial workforce.

3 minutes Heritage films from 12 schools across Delhi

K-12

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digitalLEARNING Network

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July 6, 2009

Across 12 schools of New Delhi, class VI-VIII students present their awareness about Delhi's History and character. These children through a festival organised by INTACH, showcased their passion for the beautiful and rich history that Delhi city holds, each making a three minute film on seven cities of Delhi to protect their city's cultural and natural heritage. These films were screened at Film IT festival on Monday. The students who participated scripted, edited and shot the videos on their own. Themes selected were inclusive of Delhi's rich cultural heritage and cultural history.

Twelve schools from classes VI to VIII were part of the multi-cultural event at which students got to exchange ideas and showcase their film-making talents. The event was attended by the censor board chief Sharmila Tagore, who was alos the chief guest. The participating schools included Sanskriti School, Shriram school, Modern School, Springdales Dhaulan Kuan, DPS Mathura Road, St Mary's, The Banyan Tree, Delhi Police Public School, Bluebell's International, St Columba's, Navyug School and Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya. The festival took place in Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai. All together, over 190 short films were made. In Delhi alone, students made 130 short films, of which 12 films were screened at the festival, one from each school.

Enhanced scholarship funds for SC and OBC students

Policy Matters

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digitalLEARNING Network

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July 6, 2009

The quantum of central assistance for children of those engaged in unclean occupation has been enhanced from from 50pc to 100pc to all State Governments/UTs under the scheme of 'Pre-matric scholarship.' D. Napoleon, the Minister of State for Social Justice & Empowerment gave this information in the Rajya Sabha. Under the scheme of 'Pre-matric scholarship for OBC students, 'The proposals from State Governments/UTs are received and funds are released as per their notional allocation after examining the utilization certificate and provision in the State budget,' said a release from the Ministery.

Under the 'Post-matric scholarship scheme” for SC students the annual income-limit of INR 1 lakh was fixed w.e.f. 1.4.2003.' A need was felt to increase the income ceiling and scholarship rates as well as revise other norms applicable under this scheme. Accordingly, the revision of this scheme is under consideration.

INR 12.5 to IIM-C student for 2 month internship

Higher Education

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digitalLEARNING Network

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July 6, 2009

In changing times, with what people termed as 'recession', that is now considered to be passing by, a student from the Indian Institute of Management (Calcutta) earned the highest summer internship stipend paid to an IIM student ever, exceeding the highest paid stipend to an IIM student last year for a summer internship by over 50%. As part of internship, we worked with an investment bank in Hong Kong and was paid a stipend of INR 12.5 lakh. With some experience finance domain, the IIT Delhi student has worked with a few companies over a period of two years. The stipend, he said, would be utilized to pay his MBA fee and some part of it might be invested in market. If this stipend is translated in terms of a pre-placement offer, the student could fetch about Rs 75 lakh as basic salary alone, excluding perks, variable pay and bonus. He also added that the part-payment was made to him in dollars and the rest in rupees, but even after factoring out the exchange rate quotient, the stipend is significantly higher than last year.

The highest stipend paid last year was also by another I-bank in London. Ironically, at a time when IIMs saw a dip of 15-30% in the average salary packages being offered this year, the internship stipends are increasing against a trend that saw global investment banks and other companies reducing the number of jobs offered to IIM students significantly. Instead, many students had to take up job in start-ups and smaller companies. Students at IIM-A have also indicated that summer stipends have gone up, but not necessarily at the same rate. However, the institute did not provide any official figures or data related to this year's or last year's stipends. Those familiar with the IIMs say that the remuneration paid across IIM A, B & C are in the same bracket, with a 10-20% difference in upper and higher limits. Summer internship stipends can start from anywhere between INR 20,000-30,000 for a two-month period.

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