IIM dropout rate spirals in past decade
November 16, 2008: Sunday Times
Mumbai: Lakhs of students will realise today that it is incredibly difficult to crack the Common Admission Test (CAT) to enter the elite Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). But getting into an IIM is no guarantee one will graduate from it. Data obtained by STOI from the IIMs under a Right to Information (RTI) query shows that hundreds of students dropped out of the two-year postgraduate programme in the past decade.
The highest number of dropouts was from IIM-Calcutta, with 286 students (equivalent to almost a whole batch) leaving the programme between 1995 and 2008. The number of students leaving has risen over the years. Thirty seven MBA students quit between 2003 and 2005 and the number nearly doubled to 69 between 2006 and 2008.
Professor of finance and control at IIM-C Asish K Bhattacharyya attributed this to ‘‘poor academic performance’’. He said once a candidate was in, she or he was on the same platform as anyone else.
IIM-C rules decree that a student who does not score the required number of grade points at the end of the first year may have to repeat it.
‘‘But every student has to complete the two-year course in a maximum of three years. Those who fail the first year a second time are forced to drop out,’’ added Bhattacharyya. Academic attrition was remarkably low at IIM Bangalore.
STRESSED OUT
- IIM-Calcutta had the highest number of dropouts — 286 (almost one batch) left between 1995 and 2008
- Percentage of dropouts in the SC/ST category was higher than in the general category
- IIM-A managed to cut dropout rate by introducing a mentoring programme and giving special evening coaching to academically weak students
