AHMEDABAD: IIM Ahmedabad has announced it will implement the govt-mandated reservation policy in its PhD admissions , marking the first time the premier B-school will apply the quota for SCs, STs, OBCs and persons with disabilities in its doctoral programme that started in 1971.
The online announcement for the PhD programme subtly notes: "Govt of India guidelines for reservation are followed during admissions." Earlier, 62-year-old IIM-A had no reserved seats for under-represented communities for its PhD course, known as the Fellow Programme in Management.
Hailed as a landmark move, this comes after sustained efforts by SC/ST activists and a PIL filed by Global IIM Alumni Network in Gujarat HC in 2021. The PIL sought HC's intervention to enforce the reservation provisions at IIM-A, claiming that 10 other IIMs had already implemented the quota in their doctoral programmes. In response, IIM-A filed an affidavit in Oct 2023, indicating that it would implement the reservation policy for the 2025 intake.
The initiative was spearheaded by activists Anil Wagde, Suraj Yengde, Arun Khobragade and others starting in 2017 when they met the then director Errol D'Souza. "At the time, they had no quantification of how many from these classes made it to IIM-A. You cannot control what you cannot measure. We thus filed a PIL, pointing out the violation of constitutional provisions, the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, and UGC norms," said Wagde, an IIM Calcutta alumnus. Wagde celebrated the announcement as a major victory. "We hope IIM-A keeps its word. We will monitor the process and will seek details of the admission once the process is complete."
IIM-A has not yet provided specific details on how it will implement the quota.
The online announcement for the PhD programme subtly notes: "Govt of India guidelines for reservation are followed during admissions." Earlier, 62-year-old IIM-A had no reserved seats for under-represented communities for its PhD course, known as the Fellow Programme in Management.
Hailed as a landmark move, this comes after sustained efforts by SC/ST activists and a PIL filed by Global IIM Alumni Network in Gujarat HC in 2021. The PIL sought HC's intervention to enforce the reservation provisions at IIM-A, claiming that 10 other IIMs had already implemented the quota in their doctoral programmes. In response, IIM-A filed an affidavit in Oct 2023, indicating that it would implement the reservation policy for the 2025 intake.
The initiative was spearheaded by activists Anil Wagde, Suraj Yengde, Arun Khobragade and others starting in 2017 when they met the then director Errol D'Souza. "At the time, they had no quantification of how many from these classes made it to IIM-A. You cannot control what you cannot measure. We thus filed a PIL, pointing out the violation of constitutional provisions, the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, and UGC norms," said Wagde, an IIM Calcutta alumnus. Wagde celebrated the announcement as a major victory. "We hope IIM-A keeps its word. We will monitor the process and will seek details of the admission once the process is complete."
IIM-A has not yet provided specific details on how it will implement the quota.
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