In for Corporate wars
The placement process for MDI’s 12th batch of Armed Forces Programme started from July 19, 2010. The batch consisted of 44 officers preparing themselves for the corporate world. Pramod Behl, Major General who recently took over as the director general, Resettlement inaugurated the placement brochure and the website for the batch. C P Shrimali, Professor and Dean, Continuing Education, MDI, said, “We are really proud of these officers, who take up the challenge of re-tooling and preparing themselves for their second careers with total dedication and enthusiasm.”

Outbound to Padampuri – Knowing Thyself
This outbound tour was something beyond my imagination, totally unimaginable. I had never been to such an energetic and enthusiastic tour till now in my life. It made me realise my actual potential; it helped me assess my caliber as well as shortcomings. This was actually my first experience about knowing myself – the things I can do, no matter how many constrains cross my way.

The day progressed with a lot of adventure sports that we participated in. The most interesting part of the outbound was that we did not know the trip’s schedule, so the trip was full of surprises except the cultural night.

Overall, the trip was enthralling and exciting. I had pushed myself beyond my limits to complete the tasks allocated, which I previously considered to be impossible. This trip helped me to find out the actual potential that lay hidden inside me. ‘Learning by doing’ is the lesson I learnt from this outbound. To sum up, the journey awakened my soul, allowing me to shed off the curtains of laziness. I have promised myself that I will do whatever it takes to work and improve upon my inadequacies.

—Megha Garg, Student, IWSB

Post-Turbulent Times
On 12 June 2010, the National HRD network (NHRD) conducted a webinar (web seminar) on ‘Managing Human Capital post turbulent times’. In this virtual session S. V. Nathan, Director, U.S. India Talent, Deloitte shared his viewpoints on the subject and addressed questions put up by the participants.

The discussion rotated around the following questions:
• What should HR do to manage employee expectations?
• What are the new needs for tackling post recession challenges?
• How does HR pay a pivotal role in managing organizations new growth paradigm?

On the same day, NHRD also conducted a workshop on ‘Talent Management-Competitive Advantage-Realized’ in Hyderabad. This one-day workshop’s objective was to study the concepts and processes of managing talent. It aimed at teaching the evaluation of the effectiveness of talent management in an organisational setting by identifying and retaining good talent.

Jaipuria’s first convocation
Jaipuria Institute of Management Studies, Ghaziabad, held its very first convocation for the PGDM batch of 2008-10 on 7 June 2010. The farewell, Yaadein was organised prior to the convocation on 15 May 2010. To mark the occasion, Mr R.V. Kanoria, chairman and managing director, Kanoria Chemicals and Industries Ltd, had been invited as the chief guest. Mr T.N. Chaturvedi, the former comptroller and auditor general, graced the event as the guest of honour. Mr Rajaram Jaipuria, Chairman, Board of Governors, bestowed the diplomas to students.

TANCET 2010
The Tamil Nadu Common Entrance Test – 2010 was conducted by Anna University on 29 and 30 May 2010. The results are out now putting an end to the waiting period for MBA aspirants and other Post Graduate courses is finally over. The results can be checked online at http://result.annauniv.edu/result.html.

Orientation 2010 at IIM-C
Freshers’ Welcome and Orientation Programme 2010 for the 47th PGDM and 17th PGDCM batch of students was organised by IIM Calcutta.

Sangeeta Talwar, alumnus of IIM-C, was the chief guest at the event. Currently, she is the president – South Asia for the Tata Tea Group and executive director of Tata Tea Limited and also a member of the Board of Governors of IIM-C. She inspired the freshmen by sharing her experiences as an IIM student and gave an insight on the business environment that they were about to step into. The daylong orientation programme involved interaction with the IIM faculty, the coordinators and the Dean. There were meetings arranged with the chairpersons of Career Development and Placement and Student Affairs Committee. A session on the learning through the case studies was also a part of the orientation.

Evangelism
IIT Kanpur recently launched the ‘Young Engineers Professional Summer Training Program 2010’, (YEPTP'10). The programmes announced by Young Engineers in association with Microsoft student partners, Trust Port Data Security, Techpedia are to be conducted at the K. L. University and IIT Kanpur. It has offered long-term as well as short-term courses that would benefit the students by provisioning Yeindia professional certification and an option to work on Yeindia projects. The programmes are based on creating leaders, innovators and thinkers of tomorrow and not just technocrats.

SMS shining
School of management Sciences, Varanasi, has proved its worth once again by bagging awards at the fourth World HRD Congress in the following categories:
1. Innovation in Building Academic & Industry Interface
2. Outstanding Business Leadership Award (North)

It is worth noting that these awards are given to the top Indian management institutes only. Mr. Sharad Singh, CEO, SMS Group of Institutions and Dr. Sudhir Sharan, Director, SMS, Lucknow received the award on behalf of SMS. Apart from the feat it achieved, SMS has been rated as an A+ institution for the past nine years by Business India magazine.

The connections
The imminent IIM-Rohtak is planning to tie up with US-based Indiana University's Kelley School of Business.

IIM Lucknow (IIM-L), mentor to IIM-R, has announced the commencement of the first semester classes from July this year.

"The Kelley School is partnering with IIM Rohtak (IIM-R) and its dean has already visited the site. This would be a strategic partnership for student and faculty exchange, joint curriculum designing and research. It would be a partnership on the same lines as IIM Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has with Harvard University," said Deepender Hooda, MP from Rohtak, and son of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
Courtesy: Business Standard

Degree from Kharagpur
Vinod Gupta School of Management (IIT Kharagpur) has planed on starting two MBA programs. These courses have been cut out keeping in mind the working executives. The programs will initialize at the Kolkata and Bhubhaneswar campuses, where Kolkata campus will focus on general management while Bhubhaneswar campus will focus on the IT and ITES sectors. The student strength would be restricted to a meager 15-30.

It is now being expected thatthese new courses will be more conducive than their one-two year counterpart programs.

IIM get-together
IIM-K organised its Annual Alumni-Freshers meet, Sangam which brought together an intellectual crowd of around 3600 including 3000 alumni, 300 present and 300 future students. This occasion is IIM-K Alumni Committee’s annual flagship event, which is a vibrant mix of an idea-sharing culture including dance and music. Sangam is celebrated every year to cultivate and exchange new ideas,
developing relationships and links that will not only benefit IIM-K but also help the society. n

First Convocation at IWSB
The Indus World School of Business touched a major milestone in March by awarding diplomas to its first batch of 40 students at their successful completion of their Post-Graduate Program in Management for the 2008-2010 batch. The Convocation was held at the new campus of the college at Greater Noida.

Mr. Sunil Kant Munjal, Chairman, Hero Corporate Service Ltd and Member of the Hero Honda Board was the Chief Guest. He graced the occasion by delivering the first Convocation Address. Chairman of the Board of Governors, Mr. Satya Narayanan R led the Convocation procession.

Addressing the students, Mr Munjal talked about the need for entrepreneurial leaders in the country and how IWSB can be of immense help in filling this gap.

Chairman of the IWSB Academic Council, Professor Ishwar Dayal, one of the pioneers of management education in India talked about the key assumptions underlining academic program of IWSB. He also enumerated five key areas of IWSB Post Graduate Management Programme, which includes thrust on research, developing entrepreneurial ambitions through mentorship, Spirit of enquiry, encouraging critique, inventiveness, and interdependence.

To foster the spirit of encouraging entrepreneurship, IWSB has undertaken various initiatives. The Institute has a Business Incubation Centre with a seed fund of US$ 1 million. A nation-wide business plan contest ‘Srijan’ has already been conducted twice to identify business ideas that are currently being incubated at IWSB.

Additionally, the Rural Immersion Program is an integral part of the PGP at IWSB. It provides an exposure to the rural environment with an aim to sensitize students about the challenges faced by local people in leading their lives, their developmental issues, their culture, system, institutions, and local governance.

Speaking on this occasion Mr. Satya Narayanan R. Chairman, Career Launcher and Member IWSB Board of Governors said, “It is a very proud moment for us. While the first batch is ready to contribute to the corporate world and fuel the spirit of entrepreneurship; most of our students have already been recruited by top companies and young entrepreneurial organisations in various sectors during the campus placements”.

About IWSB
IWSB offers a Post Graduate Program in Business to graduates. The college inherits its rich entrepreneurial and academic pedigree from the Career Launcher Group, one of the largest edu-corporates in the country.

ISB’s faculty initiative
The Indian School of Business (ISB) recently organised a workshop for faculty members from leading Business Schools in India. This was the first event as part of a unique initiative by the ISB to introduce cutting edge practices in management education across B-schools in India. The workshop was in the area of marketing analytics, and had over fifty faculty registrants from across 25 leading B-Schools in the country.

Speaking on the need to enhance the quality of management education in India, Ajit Rangnekar, dean, ISB, said, “India will need many more high quality management graduates to sustain its high growth, and also to make it inclusive. To do this, what we need is collaboration, not competition, so that Indian management education wins, and as a consequence, all of us do. We are making this investment with the conviction that it will produce positive returns for Indian management education, and ultimately, raise the standards of all Indian B-schools.”

Professor Gary Lilien, from Pennsylvania State University, USA, who led the workshop on Marketing Analytics said, “I am delighted that the ISB, through this initiative, both encouraged and hosted this workshop. I expect this initiative to pay great dividends for Indian business education as a whole.

The participants in the workshop comprised marketing faculty members from several Indian Business schools including IIMs, SPJIMR, BITS Pilani, IRMA, IIFT, IMT Ghaziabad, among others. The workshops will vary in scope, and address different aspects of management education, from classroom content to delivery. Workshops planned include those in case teaching and simulations, as well as those in the functional topics, such as the recent one on marketing analytics.

Admissions announced
Asia-Pacific Institute of Management, New Delhi, announced admission to its Two Year Full-Time PGDM programmes and Three Year Part-Time Executive PGDM programmes. The last date for submitting applications is 31st March, 2010, and the course commences on June 2010.

The Post Graduate Diploma in Management programme takes a holistic approach, helping to shape complete managers, who can balance the needs of various stakeholders – customers, owners, and society at large. The programmes offer a unique opportunity to fresh graduates and experienced persons who want to enter the challenging area of management where professional growth is limited only by their aptitude, ambition and application. It is also highly suitable for entrepreneurs already in business – as it empowers them to optimize, expand and diversify their operations. Asia-pacific offers four PGDM programmes – PGDM with Dual Specialization, PGDM with specialization in Marketing, PGDM with specialization in International Business, and PGDM with specialization in Banking & Financial Services.

The eligibility criteria for Full-Time PGDM programme is a Bachelor’s degree with minimum 50% aggregate marks under 10+2+3 system or equivalent in any discipline recognized by Association of Indian Universities or AICTE. Students appearing for final year of degree examination in 2010 can also apply. Asia-Pacific uses CAT/MAT scores for short-listing candidates. The selection criteria will be based on academic record, communication skill assessment, group discussion and a personal interview.

Panel discussion in IIFT
Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) organised ‘Resonate,’ a panel discussion for exchange of knowledge and ideas among industry stalwarts from the telecom sector on the topic “Indian Telecom Sector: Opportunities and Challenges of the Future”. Industry experts like Sanjoy Sarma, director-sales, Alcatel Lucent and RN Padukone, principal general manager, Corporate Planning & Monitoring Cell at BSNL, along with Vimal Waklu, director technical, Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL) and Aashish Talwar, telecom leader, GE India, addressed the eager group of students of IIFT.

Anit Roy, co-ordinator of Systemix, the Business Technology Club of IIFT, said, “The Indian telecom sector has been booming with the highest growth rates in the world, unmatched by any country of comparable scale. The objective of this panel discussion was to provide an interactive platform for business leaders to share their vision of telecom companies to face the challenges and stay competitive in today’s dynamic business environment.” The panelists discussed on various issues related to the telecom industry providing students an opportunity to learn emerging business needs, new growth strategies and technological innovations in the sector. Sanjoy Sarma said, “With respect to the telecom industry, we are no longer a developing country, we are developed. Together with our IT strength and the amount of skilled people who understand applications, we are at the moment of reckoning for developing applications for networks.”

According to Vimal Waklu, “Apart from the rapid increase in subscribers and the mind boggling array of tariff plans directed at every segment of the massive consumer base, the telecom industry has provided communication independence to every Indian, especially in rural India, by providing means to keep in touch at affordable rates. Tariff strategies of one or half paise per second have created a paradigm shift in the business.” Even RN Padukone vouched for the same, as he believed that, “The next two to three years are going to be defining years for telecom in India.”

New dean of ISB
The executive board of the Indian School of Business (ISB) confirmed the appointment of Ajit Rangnekar as the Dean of the ISB for a term of five years, with immediate effect. Several candidates were reviewed for the position of the dean ever since it fell vacant in January 2009. The executive board, based on the recommendations of the Dean Search committee, and extensive discussions with the faculty, students, alumni, partner schools, and other key stakeholders, found Ajit Rangnekar to be the best suited for the job.

Making the announcement on behalf of the Board, Rajat Gupta, chairman, ISB, said: “We could not have asked for a better outcome. Ever since Ajit joined the ISB nearly seven years ago, he has become indispensable to the school. He has played a crucial role in the school’s growth over the years, and embodies the ISB’s vision and values in everything he does. We are excited and privileged that he has accepted this responsibility, and extend to him our full support in strengthening the ISB’s position as a top ranked global B School.”

The former Dean of the Kellogg School of Management, and a member of the search committee for the selection of the ISB Dean, Professor Dipak Jain said, “The ISB, in the present stage of its evolution, has the opportunity of becoming a pivotal school in the emerging region. In Ajit Rangnekar, we have found someone with a keen understanding of the business of B School education, rich experience in the Asian region, and above all, a zealous conviction in making business schools relevant to the communities that they operate in.”

Speaking on his appointment, Ajit Rangnekar, dean, ISB, said, “I have always been passionate about the ISB and its vision, and am proud to have been a part of its growth over the years. It is indeed an honour to be entrusted with the responsibility of leading the school in the next phase of its growth. In the coming years, we will continue to strengthen our faculty pool, enhance our research capabilities, and focus extensively on making ISB the best in the world on issues of fast emerging economies. In this journey, I am grateful to have the continued support of the entire ISB community.”

Rangnekar has a background spanning over 30 years in consulting and industry, across different countries in Asia. Prior to being formally appointed the Dean, he was the Deputy Dean of the school from March 2003 to January 2009. Before joining the ISB, he was the country head, first for Price Waterhouse Consulting and then for PwC Consulting, in Hong Kong and the Philippines. He was head of the Telecom and Entertainment Industry Consulting practice for PwC in East Asia (China to Indonesia). Rangnekar completed his undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, and Post Graduation in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

ISB's launches PG programme
The Indian School of Business (ISB) announced the launch of PGPMAX - a postgraduate programme in management for senior executives. It will be offered part time over a period of 15 months and is specifically designed for senior industry executives with an average work experience of 15 years. The programme is intended for senior executives who have excelled in functional domains such as finance, marketing, sales, operations, healthcare, information technology, customer service and are now aspiring to move into general management positions. The part time model of the programme supports these senior executives to pursue a postgraduate programme in management equivalent in rigour and content to an EMBA without having to leave their jobs. They will participate in classroom sessions of six days every six weeks, over the 15-month duration. During the immersion, participants will attend classes at Kellogg School of Management and The Wharton School, visit companies abroad and meet international industry leaders. Executives aspiring to apply to the PGPMAX need to possess a bachelor’s degree and minimum of 10 years of full time work experience.

IIM-l's 'Treatise'
IIM Lucknow’s Manfest 2010 in association with the British Council, has launched ‘Treatise: The International Thought Challenge’. Treatise is an international debate challenge which is conducted online which allows participating teams to contest from their homes. International participants from Stanford and University of Michigan have also been part of the event. Business Standard is the associate title partner for the event which carries a prize money of Rs 75,000. Treatise will be set on the Manfest 2010 theme – ‘India: Expect, Explore, Experience’. This is the fourth edition of Treatise and is expected to be a huge success, going by past records. Manfest 2010 also launched ‘Prerna – The Social Entrepreneurship Awards’. It is a CSR initiative aimed at recognising social entrepreneurs who have successfully led transformational social change. Other than that Manfest 2010 will feature Hell Raiser, the rock fest, Professional night, a Lucknow city run to raise AIDS awareness, online games, informals and much more.

IIM Marketing Digest
IIM Lucknow’s Manfest 2010 in association with the British Council, has launched ‘Treatise: The International Thought Challenge’. Treatise is an international debate challenge which is conducted online which allows participating teams to contest from their homes. International participants from Stanford and University of Michigan have also been part of the event. Business Standard is the associate title partner for the event which carries a prize money of Rs 75,000. Treatise will be set on the Manfest 2010 theme – ‘India: Expect, Explore, Experience’. This is the fourth edition of Treatise and is expected to be a huge success, going by past records. Manfest 2010 also launched ‘Prerna – The Social Entrepreneurship Awards’. It is a CSR initiative aimed at recognising social entrepreneurs who have successfully led transformational social change. Other than that Manfest 2010 will feature Hell Raiser, the rock fest, Professional night, a Lucknow city run to raise AIDS awareness, online games, informals and much more.