Interpreter of Maladies
Friday, January 13, 2006
Why touchy about a brand !!!"Plea to Preserve the IIT Brand and Build Complementary Brands to Serve
India " hosted on the web by PetitionOnline.com, the free online petition service,
at: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/SaveIITs/
Long back, when I had heard about IT BHU becoming an IIT or Roorkee joining the fray, I too had fears about the government doing something absolutely uncalled for. I felt it was taking something that genuinely just belonged to a select few, away from me. It has been many years since that renaming happened and look at the effect it has caused:
1. BHU is still known better as BHU and much less as an IIT. It still is not included with the other IITs in a general recall sense. Other than the official privileges extended to the institute, I can't see how much part the IIT brand has played in its success story.
2. Roorkee-again the same logic plays its part. The general recall as an IIT is very low. It is better known as Roorkee and enjoys its very own standing and stature.
So the funny part is even if the rebranding happens in the sense of few other institutes becoming IITs, it will not really make such a big difference. As a brand, IIT can only take you through to a little distance but after all it is only you as a person who will drive your efforts in life's arena. The significance of the IIT brand is indisputable-I would never exchange my alma mater for anything else in the world but I don't think it is the only thing that would define me.
I study currently in another one of those ELITIST institutions, the IIMs. The funny part about IIMs is also their whole obsession with their brand-which unlike IITs is almost the sole asset they have !! (IITs as all of you would agree would still be the best places to study if you take away the name IIT-alas, it isnt the same with IIMs). And Government is a much more patient audience to the IIMs pleas against giving IIM status to any other institute but-lo behold what has happened- ISB, with no IIM tag, absolutely no government help, has come up and is giving some very serious competition to the IIMs. So much so that the IIMs have also started a one year MBA program now. So much that IIM Bangalore is moving earth and heaven to open a campus in Singapore.
What does this mean? It means that a brand does not mean anything. You can give the tag to 100 institutes. If you dont spread the spirit-it will never mean anything. In the same way, if IITians also think that their brand name is the sole asset they have-it will never mean anything....
IIT brand name has helped companies in getting projects from the US-well, the phoren people are not dumb. They come at IIMs to recruit people for summers and yes, they love IITians. But that is just an exam you qualified, an institute you attended. If at the end of it, you do not have the brains to prove it-they will chuck you out. Amongst my batchmates at IIM, there are many who think that the IIT name would steer them through everything and were left stranded, wondering - where went the whole point of encashing on their alma mater's brand name.
Whether you sign the petition or not. Whether government actually makes all colleges as IITs, it will never dissolve the brand. If something will dissolve the brand-it will be through us, the IITians.
If we dont go out and prove the kind of abilities expected from an IITian, we are as good as anyone else from any other college. If the current students feel that the brand name will be their Godfather all their life, its a mistake. IIT only gives you the top place at the start line-whether you win or you dont depends on how you run !!!
