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Setting in motion the process to go global, the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, on Friday, gave its approval to amend the Memorandum of Association to pave the way for expansion of its activities overseas.
Briefing reporters after a meeting of the institute's board of Governors, which took the decision, IIM-B director Prakash G Apte said the MoA, signed in 1973 at the time of establishing the institute, did not include a clause about expanding its activities outside the country.
"The MoA has to be modified and the board has approved that the amendment process should begin," he said.
The IIMB board meeting comes close on the heels of the Union Human Resource Development Ministry shooting down a proposal of the institute to have a presence in Singapore, saying the prestigious institute should meet the domestic demand.
Later, in a softening of stand, HRD Minister Arjun Singh had said on Wednesday that the IIMs should first amend their MoA if they opted to have campuses abroad. Singh has convened a meeting of the IIMs in New Delhi on February 1.
Apte said the Board of Governors would hold a meeting with HRD ministry to thrash out the issue of extending IIM-B's presence to Singapore by amending the MoA. However, before that, the board would hold a preliminary meeting in Delhi on January 31, Apte said.
Apte said IIM-B's presence in Singapore for the moment would be a "virtual presence in the near future and not physical presence in the form of a campus", adding they would begin with a part-time MBA programme for executives.