IIMs set a record

Indian Institute of Management enrolls more number of women students than men students. The enrollment ranges from 25 percent to 75per percent IIM Rohtak enrolled over 73 percent while IIM Sambalpur enrolled around 75 percent of women students. The balance has been a concern in engineering and management institutions for a long time. Before 2017, women students' representation was below 11 percent. To address this concern supernumerary seats were introduced in the last decade.

It has been observed that second-generation IIMs have shown a greater percentage of women student enrollment as compared to the older IIMs.The top-ranked IIM-Ahmedabad, Bangalore, and Calcutta remain modest, the reason may be, that these B-schools want to keep admission strictly based on merit.

While IIM-Rohtak, Sambalpur, and Kozhikode enrolled a greater percentage of women students. The enrollment dropped for IIM Raipur and Indore.

There are several factors for the rise in enrollment of women students. Where IIM Rohtak has always boasted gender-diverse classes. Since 2018 the institution has had 50 percent of women students.“We allow eligible female students and their parents to visit the institution by offering them train fare. Several interactive sessions with potential applicants are held every year,” said Dheeraj Sharma, director of IIM Rohtak. IIM Sambalpur made a policy in 2017 to grant an additional 5 percent cut-off reduction for women candidates during the interview selection process and in forming a unified merit list.

Similarly, IIM Kozhikode has introduced supernumerary seats since 2019. 

While IIM Bangalore believes the greater number are result of reduced dropout rates. Women are now more ambitious and instrumental in leading key positions in the corporate world. 

With time it has become essential to provide equal opportunities to women students from institutions to higher positions. The increase in enrollments is proof of the changing nation.