ABSTRACT\ud
It is currently fashionable in Comparative Education to . Speak.\ud
of educational dependency, cultural imperialism and neocolonialism as\ud
outcomes of American intervention in third world educational systems.\ud
Firstly, it is assumed in most analyses that once conditions of dependency\ud
have been created through the institutional transfer of models of\ud
higher education from the 'Centre' to the 'Periphery', the educational\ud
system of the latter, is bound to remain perpetually under the domination\ud
of the former. Secondly, it is also assumed in the literature that\ud
peripheral elites accept eagerly and without question the institutional\ud
innovations being proposed by the metropolitan agencies. A third\ud
assumption is that metropolitan penetration induces within the peripheral\ud
institution structural distortions which are detrimental to independent\ud
institutional development.\ud
This study examines these three assumptions in the Indian context\ud
with special reference to the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta.\ud
This institution was established in the early 1960's in collaboration\ud
with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Over the last two decades,\ud
it has also received substantial funding from the Ford Foundation. The\ud
important question posed is whether the IIMC can be cited as a concrete\ud
example of educational dependency created through the transfer of the\ud
American business school model to India.\ud
The thesis is divided into five parts:\ud
Part I discuses the theoretical concerns of the thesis, clarifies the\ud
mthodological approachand outlines a tentative theoretical framework\ud
(v)\ud
for investigating situations of educational dependency.\ud
Part II attempts an analysis in historical perspective of the effectiveness\ud
of metropolitan penetration in the processes of policy formulation and\ud
adoption at the IIMC.\ud
Part III deals with the complex interactions between the metropolitan\ud
agencies and Indian elite groups. Of special significance in this analysis\ud
is the importance placed on foreign training of Indian academics as an\ud
approach to creating a "homogenized" faculty outlook at the INC.\ud
Part IV focuses on the consequences for the IIMC and analyses the extent\ud
to which they can be viewed as unfavourable outcomes of metropolitan\ud
penetration.\ud
Part V demonstrates that the case-study of the IIMC calls into question\ud
the validity of important assumptions regarding the phenomenon of\ud
educational dependency in India