The Indian Institute of Management - Kozhikode (IIMK) has revamped its curriculum by introducing experience-oriented learning. In an attempt to stand out from other IIMs in the country, the institute has also introduced different academic programmes like Master of Science in Finance (MSF) programme, MBA (Liberal Studies), PhD in Management (Practice Track), and MBA in Business Leadership for both working executives and full-time students, IIM-K director Debashis Chatterjee in an interview to TNIE correspondent Pooja Nair.
Excerpts:
Q. What are the changes that you have brought about to make IIM-K one of the premier institutions for management studies?
A. We want to make sure
IIM-Kozhikode stands out as a technology business school which has risen to the level of a university.
We have revamped the curriculum in an attempt to changing the old-school teaching concept. We don’t want our students to talk the academic world jargons but want them to talk the language of the industry, which can’t be attained sitting in a classroom. Non-classroom activities including projects, field work and experiments will be part of it. Continuous assessment will be given stress rather than examinations.”
Q. In what way is your new PhD programme different from other IIMs?
A. Typically, the thinking is, if someone wants to do a PhD, he or she needs to go through the course work -- the topic may or may not involve the person’s past experience. In IIM-K, what we say your experience in a profession becomes the basis of your PhD programme. Through this concept, you are indirectly helping to solve a problem in your industry. We give you tools, framework and instruments to understand the subject. The way a normal person and an IIM PhD scholar looks at the market is different. We have got 400-plus applications for PhD in Management (Practice Track) and we could only accommodate 4 per cent of these. We have got applicants from Hong Kong, the US and several other countries to do the course work here.
Q. MBA programmes are a staple of all management colleges. How could you make IIM-K’s one-year MBA Business Leadership programme click?
A. The programme is packed with two international immersions. The batch has 65 students. This is different from our typical postgraduate programme. It aims to systematically nurture and shape experienced minds into high-potential leaders who are authentic, capable, multi-dimensional and grounded in core values.
Q. Any new programme for the next academic year?
A. We will soon announce MBA (Liberal Studies) programme for the 2020-21 academic session. This will cater to a large number of liberal arts and social science students who are currently not a part of the managerial workforce. They can add value if properly trained. We are benchmarking this programme along with the other global programmes.
Q. What is the theme for IIM-K’s upcoming international conclave?
A. The concept of ‘Globalising Indian Thought’ will be discussed in the conclave. If IIMs cannot take India to a global stage, who can do that? It is from this thought the concept has taken birth. Twenty-five years back, when I was in IIM - Kolkata, I asked the question to three of my colleagues, ‘What is Indian about the Indian institute?’
I could not find any Indian thought being implemented in the Indian institute. It’s high time that we took the Indian management system to the global platform. This conclave will be a beginning of putting this concept before the world. The idea is to inform what India has to offer to the world.