IISWBM likely to be upgraded to university, says Partha Chatterjee

Kolkata: Indian Institute of Social Welfare & Business Management (IISWBM) — the country's oldest B-school — will surely get the status of a university, said state Education minister Partha Chatterjee after attending a meeting comprising the Board of Directors (BoD), at the management institute on Monday afternoon.

Chatterjee happens to be the president of the BoD of IISWBM that was set up by the Calcutta University senate together with the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Bengal Chief Minister Bidhan Chandra Roy and Dijendra Kumar Sanyal

in 1953.

"We have had a detailed discussion in the Board of Directors' meeting. All the members have agreed that IISWBM should have the status of a university," Chatterjee said after the meeting. A senior official of the state Higher Education department said the parameters like teacher transfer, student-teacher ratio and other modalities will be

finalised soon.

"This is the first business school not just in India but in entire south-east Asia. If this becomes a management university then several management schools and institutes scattered all over the state will come under our aegis," a top IISWBM official said

It may be mentioned that the state government has allocated a land of 3-acre to IISWBM for setting up its second campus at Rajarhat opposite to Amity University. The work for the building has already started. The management institute has seen a phenomenal placement in

recent times.

As per statistics, in 2015-16 the placement was 96 percent, while in 2016-17, it was 98 percent. It has recently set a precedence in its placement record with one of its students bagging a job with Amazon India with a hefty monthly pay package of Rs 12 lakh.

It may be mentioned that at present, Calcutta University grants degrees to our students since IISWBM is

affiliated to it.