The eleventh Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in the country, IIM, Tiruchirappalli, recently lowered the curtains on an eventful first year that began with Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Kapil Sibal laying the foundation stone.
Functioning from the premises of National Institute of Technology – Tiruchi (NIT-T), the IIM-T has traversed a path that laid a strong foundation for academic and extra-curricular development under the chairmanship of former SEBI Chairman M. Damodaran.
The team of 12 faculty members has been drawn from other IIMs, IITs and reputed institutions from USA and France. Also, a multi-cultural environment has seamlessly been fused by the inaugural batch of 84 students chosen from various parts of the country based on their over 98.23 per cent score in the CAT exam, says Prafulla Agnihotri, director of the institute. Though the initial plan was to start off with a single batch of 60 students, the response was overwhelming, he added.
Ever since the academic journey commenced on June 15, 2011, students had ample avenues for intellectual pursuits. Insight, the guest lecture series has enabled students to access the expertise of several distinguished hands in the field of management. "By the end of the course, the students would have met 20 personalities representing industry and academia," said Godwin Tennyson, Associate Professor.
Slated for start this January is the Institute Distinguished Lecture series. It will begin with a lecture by C. Rangarajan, Chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, to deliberate on matters that have an impact on the current socio-economic scene in the country, he said.
Besides, efforts to engage with universities abroad for student and faculty exchange programs and joint research ventures are also underway.
The institute also plans to build a faculty team of 20 members, making it the highest faculty strength among all the newly begun IIMs, Dr. Prafulla said.
Though the focus is on academics, the institute also provides the students with opportunities that add to their wholesome development. Confluence 2011, the annual management summit hosted by IIM Ahmedabad, was a national level platform for students of IIM-T to prove their mettle. Mohanraj Ganesan and Abhijit Mishra from the institute bagged the first place in the event titled Kings of Advertisements and were rewarded with Rs. 35,000.
In another event at the same meet, Winners of Sellers Devulapalli Sharath and Sudhakar Ayyagari won a cash prize of Rs. 15,000.
The in-house clubs dedicated to academic aspects such as marketing, finance and consultation are as popular as clubs for music, photography and other interests among the students.
IIM-T has plans to increase the number of its in-house programme offerings, apart from its Fellowship Programme in Management set to begin this academic year, Dr. Prafulla said, informing that international placement offers for summer internships have already been made to the students from reputed companies abroad.
