NAAC nod to IRMA will pave way for deemed varsity status

VADODARA/ANAND: The country's oldest and premier educational establishment - the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) - which was set up by India's milkman late Dr Verghese Kurien has moved closer to get the deemed university status.
IRMA, which was so far operating as a private education institute managed by a public trust - the IRMA Society - since 1979, has undergone the accreditation process of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).
It was last year that the IRMA had started the process of getting the deemed university status.
"As a first step towards this, we had applied for assessment and accreditation from the NAAC last year. A peer team of NAAC recently visited our campus for two days. Once we get accreditation, the process for getting deemed university status will begin," a top official at IRMA told TOI.
The Anand-based institute, which is ranked among top 10 private business schools in the country, had decided to change its course after over three decades after the institute realized that it needs to have a degree granting status to keep in sync with its expansion plans and to grow IRMA's brand image. With its present structure, IRMA has to apply every year to the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to run its flagship postgraduate diploma in rural management (PRM) programme.
Since 1994, when IRMA first approached the AICTE for granting approval to the PRM programme, the institute has grown the strength of its PRM programme to 180 seats.
The move to get deemed university status is an attempt to come under a proper regulatory body - the University Grants Commission (UGC) - as sooner or later, IRMA would have turned into just another private institute.
The institute is hoping that with the deemed university status it will not only get degree granting status with which it can run more courses, but also make it eligible for number of funding schemes available with bodies like UGC.
Also, presently, IRMA students who apply for foreign universities or even those going for central universities are facing troubles as foreign universities are not being able to understand the institute's unique system.
"The deemed university status will help increase visibility of brand IRMA at international forums," said the official.
IRMA had received a grant of Rs 25 crore in the Union Budget of 2012 through which it has added four centres of excellence.