Established in 1996, the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Indore is much younger than its older counterparts. However, in a relatively short time, it has acquired a high rating in several national B-school rankings for excellence in academics, research and publications.
In October, IIM Indore received its first international accreditation from the Association of MBAs, a UK-based accreditation agency, for four of its full-time programmes including the two-year Post-graduate Programme in Manage-ment (at Indore and Mumbai), one-year full-time Executive Post-graduate Programme in Management (EPGP) and the five-year Integrated Programme in Manage-ment (IPM, 4th and 5th year). This makes it one of the only four IIMs with this prestigious accreditation.
IIM Indore is also the only IIM to offer a post-graduate programme in management outside its home campus in Mumbai and at Belapur.
Teaching strength: The institute has 90 faculty members, including resident and visiting faculty from both Indian and foreign universities. It boasts of some of the best teaching staff in departments like economics, finance and accounting, humanities and social sciences, information systems, marketing, operations management and quantitative techniques, strategic management, etc.
“The faculty members have access to some of the finest resources in their areas of interest which helps build long-term collaborative relationships with foreign faculty and institutions,” says IIM Indore director Rishikesha T. Krishnan. To promote research among faculty and students alike, IIM Indore hosts some Special Interest Groups (SIG) that conduct workshops, guest lectures and conferences on themes like Rejuvenating Indian MSMEs, Comparing Business in China and India and The Indian Aviation Industry.
“This aims to stimulate fresh perspective on various cross cultural and economic issues,” says Krishnan. “Students then extend their knowledge to industry and the related groups as well.” Spread across 193 acres and seated atop a hillock on the outskirts of Indore, the IIM campus is home to over 1,600 students. The fully residential institute offers its students a state-of-the-art library, well-equipped classrooms and a host of sports and recreational amenities, such as badminton courts, meditation and yoga room, basketball court, football ground, swimming pool, table tennis, gymnasium, billiards and squash court.
The IIM Indore also imparts experiential learning through a unique programme called Himalayan Outbound Programme, which aims at cultivating team building and leadership skills in second-year PGP students. Students visit beautiful locales along the Himalayas and learn skills through activities such as trekking, rafting and adventure sports.
“Because of the IPM programme, we have the best class diversity. Unlike other IIMs that have majority of engineers, we get to have a healthy class discussion with students, who have interest in music, dance, philosophy, humanities, etc,” says Shruti Suman, 24, a second year student of the two-year postgraduate programme. “Learning at IIM Indore is an enriching process as our professors are known in the academic world for their expertise in the subjects. Moreover, we also get to learn from some of the world’s best professors who often visit our campus.”
Industry collaborations & placements: Acknowledging the relevance of an institute to cater to industry requirements, IIM Indore engages its students with experts quite frequently. “Our endeavour is to be a contextually-relevant business school with world class academic standards,” says Krishnan.
IIM Indore also has an exemplary track record of placements. In the recently concluded placements for the 2016 batch, the institute attracted 162 recruiters, including 53 first-time recruiters, extending offers to 617 participants. The overall average salary package was Rs 15.67 lakh per annum – an increase of 10 per cent over last year. The highest package offered by an Indian company was Rs 32 lakh per annum, while the highest international package was Rs 30 lakh per annum.
Guest Author
A journalist who has covered the education beat for Hindustan Times and now pursues research at Observer Research Foundation
