In an unprecedented development that will propel Indian management education globally, Global Thinker & Padma Bhushan Awardee Prof Jagdish Sheth has accepted to rename IFIM Business School Bangalore in his name as the ‘Jagdish Sheth School of Management’. Prof Sheth accepted the request of present Chairman and noted business leader Shri Sanjay Padode to rename the School after the living legend.
Confirming the renaming, Prof Sheth told MBAUniverse.com, “As India gets globally integrated, it will become increasingly necessary for management schools to meet or exceed global benchmarks, global accreditations and global recognitions. I am truly humbled and honoured that Sanjay Padode, Atish Chattopadhyay, the Governing Board and all the faculty invited me to rename IFIM in its journey toward becoming a globally admired and recognized as JagdishSheth School of Management.”
Announcement of this landmark development was done on Oct 21st evening at a virtual event hosted by IFIM where Prof Jagdish Sheth and AICTE Chairman Dr Anil Sahasrabudhe were speaking. Reacting to the announcement, Dr Sahasrabudhe said, “IFIM being named after renowned scholar as Jagdish Sheth School of Management is a great news. We need to benchmark Indian management education with the best in the world, and also take the unique Indian learnings to the world. My best wishes are with the institution.”
Keeping global aspirations in mind, Prof Sheth has personally chosen the acronym for the B-school as ‘JAGSOM’. Prof Sheth is widely known as JAG Sheth in American and European management circles.
This development is one of the rare instances where an institution is being named to honor a globally renowned Indian academic – and is not based on any endowment or grant. This is also a unique case where Trustee/Promoter has selflessly relinquished his position as Chairman of the Board to push a B-school further on its globalization journey.
Sharing the significance of the development with MBAUniverse.com, Shri Sanjay Padode said,“After incubating IFIM Business School for 25 years to become a AACSB accredited and a globally ranked institution, I felt that it is time to cut the umbilical cord and give more wind under its wings by professionalising the governance of the Institution.”
He further added, “I am grateful to Prof Jagdish Sheth for his acceptance to Chair the Governing Board. His acceptance of permitting us to use his name for renaming the school permanently is a testimony to the effort made by the faculty and the leadership of the institution for developing IFIM Business School. I am confident that Jagdish Sheth School of Management will soon make India proud.”
Prof Jagdish Sheth is a globally known management thinker and scholar for his scholarly contributions in marketing, competitive strategy, and geopolitical analysis. Prof Sheth has over 50 years of combined experience in teaching and research at leading US Universities including University of Southern California, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Columbia University, MIT, and Emory University. Prof Sheth has been an advisor to numerous companies including Whirlpool, Motorola, AT&T, WIPRO, Aditya Birla Group, E&Y and many others. He has published numerous books and award-winning articles. Prof Sheth has been an advisor to the Government of Singapore and a policy advisor to the US Government as well.
Recognizing his achievements, Government of India conferred Prof Sheth with the prestigious Padma Bhushan Award in 2020.
Commenting on the significance of the development, Prof Atish Chattopadhyay, Director, Jagdish Sheth School of Management, said, “This is a watershed moment for management education in India which is marked by several ‘Firsts’: This is the first time that an Indian Management Institution is being re-named to honour a globally renowned scholar and not based on receipt of endowments. This is also the first time that an owner has given way to an academic to make a shift from being an owner driven institution to an academic driven institution – my salute to Shri Sanjay Padode for his courage, conviction and honesty of purpose.”
Prof Chattopadhyay further added, “The renaming of the school will result in higher visibility in the global arena. I am grateful to Prof. Sheth for agreeing to lend his name and would like to thank my board, my faculty colleagues, and the alumni for supporting this bold move.”
IFIM’s many milestones, and making of Jagdish Sheth School of Management
JAGSOM takes off from the many recent achievements of IFIM B-School, which is well known for its focus on industry-interface a contemporary innovative curriculum and pedagogy to groom professionals of tomorrow.
IFIM was set up in 1995 in Bangalore and had a modest beginning. It was amongst one of the many hundredsof PGDM B-schools that dotted the country and fed young management talent to the booming Indian economy in the start of 21st century.
IFIM came into prominence when Shri Sanjay Padode took over the leadership about a decade back and drove several initiatives that took management education watchers by surprise when IFIM became only the sixth B-school in India to receive the prestigious AACSB Accreditation in 2018. Recently, IFIM was ranked by QS Masters in Marketing Ranking 2021 amongst the Top 100 such programs (in 51-100 band) in the World for its PGDM Marketing program. It has also been ranked in the 101-150 Band Globally in the QS Rankings for its PGDM Finance Program.
The B-school today has a wide program portfolio that includes (1) PGDM : 2 Year residential Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) with international super-specializations in Martech, Fintech, Big Data Analytics, Digital Transformation & HR (2) PGDM (Marketing) and PGDM (Finance) (3) PGDM IB: Dual Degree Pathway Program in association with State University of New York (Albany) and Sydney Business School (UOW) (4) PGDM LFH: A unique learn from home program and, (5) BBA having pathway options with ESCP Europe, ESC Rennes, UOW Australia and SUNY Albany.Actively engaged in research and consulting, it hosts several Centres of Excellence such as AIM-Parasuraman Centre forService Excellence and Centre for Consulting in Digital Leadership. It has an elite set of international academic partners including leading institutes such as ESCP-London, Darden Business School (University of Virginia) and McCombs Business School (University of Texas at Austin).
Renaming of IFIM Business School to Jagdish Sheth School of Management shall create the next chapter in its evolution, and perhaps motivate many other entrepreneurial B-schools to professionalize their institutions.
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on Jagdish Sheth School of Management.
