Imparting Mindfulness

While all B-schools emphasise developing business leaders, IIM Bodh Gaya consciously chose the value of mindfulness as its core. Consequently, mindfulness was introduced in IIM Bodh Gaya’s mission statement after rigorous brainstorming with all stakeholders. In line with its mission to develop mindful business leaders and sensitise the value of mindfulness among the business community, IIM Bodh Gaya has taken multiple steps to achieve these outcomes such as setting up of its own mindfulness centre – Samatvam, introducing mindfulness-related courses in MBA, PhD and IPM programmes, etc. and organising conferences, workshops and FDPs on mindfulness. Through this, IIM Bodh Gaya endeavours to add an important social dimension to business and management and create a greater consciousness on the triple bottom line of people, planet and profits. 

The institution facilitates bridging the gap between industry and academia and ensuring the relevance and currency of the pedagogy.

IIM Bodh Gaya also aims to develop socially responsible business leaders and its emphasis on societal impact is reflected through its vision, mission and programme learning competencies. To develop leaders of social relevance, the institute believes that contributing to society is as imperative as academic achievements. As responsible future managers, it is a prerogative of every individual to contribute to society. IIM Bodh Gaya has actively participated in various social initiatives like ‘a river cleanliness drive’ and ‘rural welfare programme’ attempting to influence others’ lives and leave an indelible mark on others' lives.

The common thread of academic excellence binds all the activities undertaken at IIM Bodh Gaya. This is predominantly accomplished through its innovative pedagogy involving immersive learning experience.

Range of programmes

The flagship MBA programme of IIM Bodh Gaya equips the students for industry- and services-led careers in the global environment. The programme impedes theoretical and practical erudition of different functional areas of management endowing the students with an overall approach to management functions and managerial skills. “The programme is designed to enhance our students with a strong awareness and knowledge about the socio-economic environment both at the national and global level. The objective is to bring into being a global manager not only with strong analytical and decision-making skills but an overall personality with socially enviable values and ethics,” says Vinita Sahay, Director, IIM Bodh Gaya.

In line with the growing need for trained managerial talent, the institution started a five-year Integrated Programme in Management (IPM) in the academic year 2021. The objective of the programme is to prepare candidates from a foundation level for taking up leadership positions in corporate and government organisations. With an early induction to the programme and a rigorous and holistic curriculum, the students will demonstrate problem-solving skills supported by appropriate analytical techniques and will use ethical and socially conscious judgement while analysing business situations. Candidates successfully completing the course requirement of the integrated programme in management would be awarded Bachelor of Business Management and Master of Business Administration by IIM Bodh Gaya. Candidates opting to exit after completing the requirement of the first three years would be awarded a Bachelor of Business Management.

The PhD programme in management at IIM Bodh Gaya is a full-time residential programme that aims to foster high-quality researchers, innovative thinkers and touchstone academicians. The programme offers the chance to delve into multidisciplinary research in the domain of management education. Its purpose is to imbue learners with the necessary analytical and research skills required for a career in academics, management and industry.

Infrastructural developments 

Considering the global Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, IIM Bodh Gaya was agile in arranging the online classes with the required infrastructure, procured e-books for students, and organised FDPs in online mode. Faculty interviews were also conducted online mode. As the government of Bihar relaxed the social distancing norms and allowed schools and colleges to start, IIM BG invited students back to campus in a staggered manner and started hybrid model (online+offline) classroom sessions. The institute organised the International Management Conference 2021 and International Research Conference on Mindfulness 2022 which were held in virtual mode. IR temperature sensors and mechanical sanitiser dispensers were procured by IIM Bodh Gaya to ensure the safety of staff and students on the campus during the Covid pandemic. The classrooms were fully sanitised after every online class to ensure the safety of faculty and staff members. Flexible timings were adopted wherever possible for staff and faculty members during the high-risk period.

Student-teacher ratio

All faculty members of IIM Bodh Gaya are PhDs from institutes of national and international repute. The faculty has strong research aptitude and is equipped with teaching, training and consultancy competencies. Faculty members regularly publish their research output both in national and international journals, including ABDC-listed journals. Besides research papers, the faculty regularly publishes books, book chapters and cases. The teacher-student ratio at the institute currently is 1:17.

Industry collaborations

IIM Bodh Gaya is launching three new executive certificate programmes on Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Business Management and Digital Marketing for Business in the current academic year. The programme on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Business will enable professionals to be data-fluent managers and deal with fundamental aspects of data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence. The programme will incorporate several tools and techniques used in the industry for analytics. The programme on Business Management endows participants with industry-relevant practical and theoretical knowledge to help them make the right business decisions and help their businesses sustain in this competitive world. The programme on Digital Marketing for Business focuses on building skillsets to hone analytical, strategic and entrepreneurial thinking and competency. The programme endows the participants with industry-relevant practical and theoretical knowledge to help them overcome business obstacles. 

IIM Bodh Gaya has inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with academic institutions like the Indian Institute of Technology Patna and All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna to collaborate on interdisciplinary research and teaching. IIM Bodh Gaya has also signed MoUs with more than 22 international institutes for research and teaching activities. Faculty and staff members are part of these exchange programmes with international partners. The research collaborations with international faculty are slowly picking up in numbers. The University of Derby, UK collaborated with IIM Bodh Gaya along with a couple of other institutions across the world to organise an online workshop on July 14-15, 2021 to develop the network of international academic researchers to promote research collaboration in the area of operations and supply chain sustainability. 

The institute entered into a partnership with the State Health Society, Bihar in 2021 to provide management solutions to address their problems at the grassroots namely limited reach and lack of motivation and engagement. IIM Bodh Gaya faculty provided management expertise by designing and delivering management development programmes for the employees of the State Health Society, Bihar. In 2022, the institute provided training sessions for local budding entrepreneurs of micro and small enterprises in aspects related to management under the Chief Minister Entrepreneur Scheme of the Bihar government.