IIM Bangalore held its convocation on March 20, 2017 where 598 students graduated from its hallowed portals at the institute’s grand 42nd Annual Convocation ceremony. 411 students were from the two-year full-time Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP). The students graduated in the presence of chief guest Uday Kotak, Executive Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Kotak Bank Limited, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairperson, Board of Governors, IIMB, Professor G. Raghuram, Director, IIMB, and members of the faculty.
On the occasion, Uday Kotak spelled out the 5 Cs of success and the top leadership of IIM Bangalore highlighted the key achievements of last 12 months. MBAUniverse.com presents the top takeaways from the high powered speeches.
Uday Kotak, Executive Vice-Chairman & Managing Director, Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited
In his inspiring address, Uday Kotak described IIMB as IIM Best, to loud applause!
He shared with the management graduates a few of his life experiences and career journey. He listed the attributes for successful leaders as the 5 Cs: character, conviction, commitment, creativity and capability.
“Kotak would not be what it is today if we did not think differently. As you move out of your cocoon, you will need to find creative solutions - dare to be different, test yourself, be ready to encounter challenges and also for failure, learn from your mistakes, and know that committed execution is the key to capability. You have huge opportunities, but will face tough and challenging times as well. You have to be bold but keep your values intact. You need to be resilient, and stand up for defending what you believe in,” said Mr Kotak.
Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairperson, Board of Governors,
Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, in her address, highlighted the institute’s many milestones during the academic year 2016-17.
Key milestones she highlighted were:
1. IIMB Tops NIRF's B-School Ranking
IIMB Bangalore has been declared India’s Best Management School in the India Ranking 2016 prepared by MHRD’s National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF).
2. IIMB Conferred 5-Yr EQUIS Accreditation
The EQUIS Accreditation Board has voted to confer the EQUIS Accreditation label on IIMB for a further period of five years. Five year accreditation, the highest that EQUIS confers, is a testimony to the fact that the evaluating team was confident about IIMB’s ability to sustain its efforts undertaken to achieve excellent standards in education, internationalization and research.
3. IIMB Ranked No. 1 B-School in Central Asia by Eduniversal Paris
For the 8th year in a row, in 2016, Eduniversal, Paris, has ranked IIMB the top Bschool in Central Asia and has conferred the 5 Palmes of Excellence award on the school.
4. IIMB PGP among Top 20 in FT Global Masters Ranking
IIM Bangalore’s PGP has been ranked 19th in the Financial Times Global Masters in Management 2016 Ranking. IIMB is also the only management school in India to lead in school diversity with 28% women in the two-year programme, 21% women faculty and 25% of women on the board. IIMB is also the only Indian management school to be featured in the 2016 Financial Times Executive Education Top 50 Rankings.
5. Increasing Access to Higher Education through MOOCs Platform
IIMB took the lead to introduce the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in 2015 through edX, an online platform to provide access to a wide range of quality courses through blended learning programs for people who cannot afford regular management programs. Today, IIMB is the largest MOOCs led Business School in India which offers 26 unique MOOCs courses on the edX platform, and over 4.5 lakh people have benefitted through this platform. In 2016-17, IIMBx announced two online MicroMasters Programmes – one in Business Management and another in Entrepreneurship. IIMBx has also successfully trained more than 500 faculty in India on adopting MOOCs in the classroom through its Faculty Development Programme.
6. High Demand for IIMB Case Studies
There has been a surge in demand for case studies developed by IIM Bangalore’s faculty. These cases are distributed through Harvard Business Publishing, an affiliate of Harvard Business School.
7. Supporting ‘Start-up India, Stand Up India’
IIMB is working on a number of initiatives in enabling a ‘start-up culture’ in the country. ‘Entrepreneurship’ is today an integral part of IIMB’s academic agenda. As women remain highly underrepresented within the entrepreneur ecosystem, IIMB’s NSRCEL & Goldman Sachs have joined hands to launch the ‘Women Startup Programme’, the first blended-learning customized programme involving a MOOC and classroom training, as well as business incubation, to support the next generation of women entrepreneurs. The programme, which was offered at no cost, encourages and supports women to start their own businesses through a customized, three-phase model which incorporates online and classroom training as well as business incubation.
Dr Professor G. Raghuram, Director, IIMB
Highlighting the faculty and student achievement, newly appointed Director of IIMB, and former Dean of IIM Ahmedabad, Professor Raghuram said, “Two of our faculty have been awarded as distinguished alumnus/alumna from their own schools as well. Our faculty are not just world-class academicians and researchers, they also excel in pursuing their interests and passions. We are delighted by their success. I take this occasion to acknowledge their outstanding contributions.”
He highlighted the contributions made by IIMB faculty in publishing in A category journals and said that it was a matter of great pride and visibility for the institution.
Speaking about the success of FDP program at IIMB, Dr Raghuram said, “A special word about our 20 graduating FPM students. This number is an all-time high, equalling an earlier record set last year. It gives me great pride to report that among the 20 of you, there are 17 peer review publications, including 5 in top tier journals. Out of the known 13 placements, 10 are joining academic institutions of which 6 are in other IIMs, a matter of great satisfaction for us.”
Wishing the graduating students success, he said, “You are committed, active, and energetic. Please put your all into serving the nation for its development agenda and to making the world a better place for humanity. Go dream and pursue your passion with gusto!”
MBAUniverse.com will continue to bring highlights and learnings from Convocations at leading Indian B-schools. Stay tuned!
