COIMBATORE: There’s no singular reason for Amrita School of Business’ popularity among students — unique electives and mandatory wellness sessions are just few of them. “We are looking at educating young minds in contemporary management and creating wholesome and ethical citizens,” affirms Gurumurthy Kalyanaram, dean, ASB. Headquartered in Coimbatore, ASB has three campuses in Amritapuri, Kochi and Bangalore. It offers five specialisations under the MBA programme — marketing, HR, operations, finance and systems. “At ASB, we lay emphasis on ethics. Many B-schools offer separate courses on ethics. But we include it in every subject,” he adds.
Socially relevant
As part of the programme, students need to complete at least 12 electives — some of them are niche. For instance, Management beyond profit seeks to make students socially-conscious citizens. “We work closely with select SHGs that are run by Shanti Ashram near Coimbatore. We observe and also help document their work. We offer them refined concepts on banking, how to get loans and the need to keep pricing in mind and so on,” says Anitha Kaveri, second-year student of marketing. During weekends, the students become teachers to schoolkids in Ettimadai village.
Apart from this, all first-years need to compile a brochure for a fictitious NGO. “The brochure will look at all the aspects — right from structuring to the problems that the NGO might face and also suggest solutions,” explains Aditya V, a first-year student.
Unique programmes
Apart from the routine classes, students get to learn a lot more through events like Colloquia. “This is a student-industry interface that takes place at least three to four times a month. It’s an opportunity to get up to date with the industry, various career options and also about entrepreneurship possibilities,” says Aditya. The event is completely organised by a team of 16 students. “At the end of each session, students need to submit a synopsis on the event, for which they get credits,” reveals Kalyanaram.
Fests
Pragathi is held in mid-Feb. Around 22 B-schools across the country participated in it. This year, they also held TEDx, where 12 speakers explained their ideas.
Course outline
The MBA programme is spread over six trimesters. At the end of the first year, students need to do a two-and-a-half month internship. It can be in different verticals — from banking and insurance to even the IT and service sector. “When I decided to do my MBA, I received some good feedback about ASB. I am really happy to be here,” says Nimitha Nelson, second-year, marketing.
Infrastructure
The campus has state-of-the-art facilities like classrooms with OHP, Wi-Fi and 24-hour uninterrupted power supply on campus. They are separate gyms for boys and girls. The library has over 30,000 books. Students have access to around 150 international journals. An arrangement with State University, Buffalo, USA, has given the faculty access to the varsity’s databases.
Placement
Presently, the 14th batch of students are honing their management skills. The college’s alumni has been placed as business analysts, consultants and so on with Google, IBM etc. The pay package has been between Rs 4.5-12 lakh.
Accreditation
ASB is also trying to secure an accreditation from Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), Florida and EQUIS, a Europe-based accreditation agency. “No B-school in India has received the AACSB accreditation,” says Kalyanaram. One of the mandates for accreditation is active
research work by the faculty, which ASB claims to fulfil. The institute has around 40 faculty members who have graduated from reputed institutions like the IIMs and University of Berkeley. “Presently, we are only a local B-school. But we are intent on globalising the faculty and curriculum,” says Kalyanaram.