(12PressRelease.com) The International Management Institute (IMI), Delhi held its 27th Annual Convocation ceremony on June 4, 2011, on the Institute‘s campus where 240 students belonging to the PGDM, PGDM-HR, Executive PGDM and Part-Time PGDM courses received their MBA diplomas. Dr. K. C. Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India graced the occasion as Chief Guest; the event was presided over by IMI‘s Director General, Padma Shri Dr. Pritam Singh. Other dignitaries who attended the impressive ceremony included Shri R.P. Goenka, Chairman Emeritus-IMI Board of Governors, Members of the IMI Board of Governors, along with faculty and staff, parents of graduating students and representatives from the media.
Delivering his address, Dr. Chakrabarty said learning is a process that goes beyond formal education. “A Convocation Ceremony symbolises the recurring moment when we are ready to begin our lives again. Indeed, there is genuine progress only in continuous learning. Learning is work; it is hard work. It engages the conscience. It builds character, strengthens morality and helps us understand humanity. Education cannot be achieved without sacrifice. And, most importantly, it is not a finite experience. In fact, the world has so many lessons to teach us and the secret of getting ahead in life is being open to these lessons, lessons from the toughest teacher of them all, that is, life itself,†he said.
Dr. Chakrabarty also enlightened the students about the challenges that lay ahead in their journey as management leaders in a changing economy. He pointed out the changes in human values with the changing times and stressed on the importance of understanding cultural differences which would help them perform effectively, particularly at the workplace, and within the industry as a whole too. “In contrast to earlier times, the management challenges in a Knowledge Economy are manifold. Wealth here is based upon the ownership of knowledge, skill and information technology. As future managers, the main lesson for you here is that managing people is getting to be more and more of a key challenge. Not only does it involve understanding the cultural differences of your colleagues, but also the task of building and managing alliances, and bringing technology enhancements into your workplaces,†he said.
In his address, Dr. Pritam Singh, the Director General of IMI, presented the annual report of activities and spoke of the performance of IMI in the academic year. Dr. Singh also shared his vision of putting IMI in the list of the top five management institutes in India. Sharing his pride about the excellent ranking that IMI has earned in various surveys, he said, “Businessworld, in their latest survey, ranked us third among the leading business schools in the domain of ´Intellectual Capital‘. The recent AIMA survey has featured IMI in the category of the 15 super league business schools. The Economic Times, in its recent survey of business schools, ranked IMI as the eighth top business school in the eyes of MBA students.†Besides sharing the Institute‘s future plans, he also gave details of the eight different Centres of Excellence set up by the IMI.
The excitement and pride was clearly visible on Dr. Singh‘s face as he spoke of the Institute‘s exceptional placement records for 2010-11. “Our students have been able to get excellent placements, the highest and average salaries being Rs. 26 lakhs and Rs. 9.5 lakhs respectively; as compared to the highest and average salaries of Rs. 13 lakhs and Rs. 6.9 lakhs respectively, last year,†he stated.
Pledging that the highest levels of quality in terms of faculty, education, and placements at IMI would be maintained at the two newly set up campuses he said, “We have set up state-of-the-art campuses in Bhubaneswar and Kolkata to make our presence felt in Eastern India as a benchmark for top-quality management education. Both the schools have appointed Directors and a core group of the finest faculty, and offer world-class campus facilities. Our faculty from Delhi will be teaching a large number of courses at both these campuses to ensure that the IMI level of quality is not compromised. The curriculum and pedagogy will be what is in use in Delhi. All of this will help bring both the campuses very quickly to the high levels of IMI standards. We will also provide placement support to ensure that the students on these campuses get the same opportunities as the students in Delhi get.â€
Addressing the students, Shri. R.P. Goenka congratulated them on completing their education with flying colours. He said he was very confident that the new managers graduating from IMI would do the Institute proud and that a bright future lay ahead of them. “Leaving the safe confines of a business school and entering the battlefield of business is not for the weak and faint-hearted. The training you have received from the world-class faculty at IMI has made you strong and given you the courage to fight and win this war. I am sure you will be very successful and do us proud,†he stated.
Shri Goenka added that he was also very confident of a bright future for IMI under the stalwart leadership of Dr. Singh. “IMI Delhi is in a dynamic phase under the leadership provided by Dr. Pritam Singh. The Delhi campus will have additional infrastructure and faculty which will enhance the facilities and drive the area of executive training. The other focus, with increased high-quality faculty, is going to be on research. The thrust on executive training and research in addition to our current focus on excellent teaching, will transform IMI into a truly integrated business school that can be benchmarked with the best in the world,†he stated.
“We don‘t teach, we facilitate learning. This is embedded in the IMI DNA. And this is what distinguishes IMI from other management institutes and will continue to do so in the future.†Today, IMI is set to be a player in the entire knowledge cycle from knowledge creation through research to knowledge dissemination through teaching and executive training.