As students of the prestigious Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore get set to embark on their professional lives, K. Radhakrishnan, their oldest alumnus and current Chairman of the Indian Science Research Organisation, exhorted them to partake in the process of nation-building.
As many as 268 students of the flagship postgraduate programme in management — 70 from the executive batch and 35 from the programme in public policy management — were conferred their degrees at the 35th annual convocation ceremony here on Monday. Linking management education to his current field of space sciences, Prof. Radhakrishnan emphasised that the “inculcation of high degree of management science in different functions is of utmost experience for realising any space programme”.
He said: “The Indian space programme is now on the threshold of a transition into developing newer capabilities, perspectives and direction. Space should be the bedrock on which the national systems for societal and other national imperatives are built. And I would expect many of you to become partners in this process.”
The convocation address was followed by a talk by Chairman of Reliance Industries Mukesh Ambani who termed IIM-B “an insignia of modern India”. “When several Indian businesses are achieving global success in different domains, they must also strive to [earn] the respect of millions of Indians. This ‘respect' does not come from the market success but from playing a role in solving India's unresolved societal problems,” Mr. Ambani said.
Ankit Agarwal and Jiten Umesh Poojara of the PGP batch were awarded gold medals for academic excellence. Tony Thampan bagged the gold medal for best all-round performance. While Rasmi Ranjan Das stood first in the postgraduate programme in public policy management, Taran Deep Arora finished first in the course on Software Enterprise Management. Abhishek Khandelwal stood first in the executive PGP programme.
It is with much nostalgia about leaving friends behind and excitement about the jobs that lie ahead of them that the students spend their last few days on the campus. Gold medallist Mr. Agarwal was thrilled. “I was not expecting to ace the course in the beginning. But after a year, I realised that I was doing well here. I think you need a mix of luck, dedication and hard work,” he said. Mr. Poojara, the other gold medallist said having worked for three years prior to joining the course helped him perform better.
