From Ahmedabad to Shillong: MBAUniverse.com relives the IIM journey

If India has become the center of global attention, thanks to its market power, passionate entreprenures and bright managers have payed a big role. And Indian Institute of Managements have been for decades the mecca for producing these globally admired managers, and now entreprenures too.

Let’s begin this ‘edutour’ by remembering the genesis of the Indian Institutes of Management.

The seeds were sown in mid-1950s when for the Second Five Year Plan a committee under the chairmanship of industrialist Sir Ramaswamy Mudaliar was appointed “to estimate the managerial requirement of future expansions of industrial and commercial sectors” The committee recommended the “setting up of special training facilities outside the Universities for greater flexibility and autonomy, and for quickening the pace of management training and education in India.”

Acting on this advice, the Government of India set up two IIMs – at Ahmedabad and Calcutta. According to the V Kurien Committee Report, Ford Foundation financed the collaboration of IIM-A with Harvard Business School and of IIM-C with Sloan School of Management, MIT. Both IIMs started in 1961 by offering executive development programs. In 1964, they started offering the two-year postgraduate program in management.

IIM-Ahmedabad

In its initial years, IIM-A was guided by the vision of leaders like the late Dr Vikram Sarabhai. The IIM-A website says, “It all started with Dr Vikram Sarabhai and a few other public spirited industrialists realizing that agriculture, education, health, transportation, population control, energy, and public administration were all vital elements in a growing society and that it was necessary to link these meaningfully with industry. The result was the creation of the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad in 1961 as an autonomous body with the active collaboration of the Government of India, the Government of Gujarat, and industry.”

Prof Bakul Dholakia, director, IIM-A, adds: “IIM-A was established on December 11, 1961. Everything around IIM-A echoes the vision of the founders and the process of change they initiated."

For IIM-A, the 1960s was the ‘Decade of Birth’ where IIM-A’s philosophy took roots. Importantly, while Harvard Business School was guiding the process of formation, the management at the institute focused on “the social purpose” while pursuing excellence in management. The 1970s was the ‘Decade of Growth’ where management education started taking roots and the institute gained broader recognition. It launched the Fellow Program in Management and introduced new Management Development Programs. The 1980s was the ‘Decade of Diversification’, when IIM-A expanded it range and reach. Three new groups were formed: the Industrial Policy Management Group, the International Management Group, and the Entrepreneurship Group Introduction of the Faculty Development Program. The 1990s was the ‘Decade of Consolidation’. Taking into account the substantial growth of the previous decades, the institute focused on consolidating its activities. The new millennium has seen an aggressive drive to ‘internationalize’. Speaking with MBAUniverse.com, Dr Dholakia says, “We see ourselves as an international school. Our global branding initiatives over the last few years are aimed at improving the visibility of IIMs globally.” As reported on this portal, IIM-A has aggressively tied up with leading B-schools like Columbia and ESSEC.

Remembering the contribution of Dr Sarabhai, N R Narayanmurthy, chairman of the IIMA board, had this to say: “IIM-A was founded by a great visionary, the late Dr Vikram Sarabhai, to produce high quality managers for the Indian context. The institute has, indeed, fulfilled this objective in an able manner during the last 40 years.”