IIM Lucknow inducted its first batch of Post Graduate Programme in Sustainable Management (PGP SM) on Wednesday. The two-year full-time residential programme is being conducted at IIM Lucknow's Noida campus.
There are 24 students in the first batch with an average working experience of three years and six months. The maximum work experience is five years and six months, with the minimum work experience at 24 months. In terms of professional qualification, the batch is similar to any other Post-Graduate Programme in Management, with the majority of students from engineering background (22), one student from the medicine stream (dentist) and one a law graduate.
PGP SM graduates will be trained to acquire the ability to think in a holistic way about different sustainability challenges in the business environment using a dynamic systems framework. They will be equipped with management and leadership skills to recognise the inter-connectedness of the economic performance of businesses with social and environmental systems. They will be encouraged to come up with relevant policy relevant solutions.
JJ Irani, Chairman IIM Lucknow Board of Governors, in his message to the incoming batch, conveyed that Sustainable Management should be taught even in schools if society is to avoid the catastrophic effects of global warming and climate change. He emphasised the need for business managers to be sensitive towards the environmental impact of business practices.
In 2011-2012 IIM Lucknow became the first IIM to establish a dedicated Centre of Excellence for Business Sustainability.