With a focus on inclusion, IIM Bangalore launched the NS Ramaswamy Pre-doctoral Fellowship programme in June 2018 and the first seven students completed the programme this year. They received their certificates from the IIM-B Director Prof G Raghuram on March 27.
The flexible, one-year apprenticeship programme, named after the institute’s Founding Director, is designed to help select pre-doctoral fellows apply to doctoral programmes in management and allied disciplines. The programme specifically targets applicants under-represented in management academia and aims to increase social diversity in this domain.
Level playing field
“The NSR pre-doctoral programme is a very good platform for people who are from a rural background, schooled in a medium other than English , and have a dream to pursue doctoral studies in premier institutes,” said Pandiyarajan P, a participant of the programme.
Pankaj Anand, Shivani Kushwaha, Pandiyarajan P, Maloth Ramkumar, Muhammed Sadiq T, Mrutyunjaya Sahoo, and Ekta Tembhekar, were the participants of the programme.
Diverse backgrounds
“All the students are in the process of applying for doctoral programmes in India and abroad. We wish them success and hope to see them as faculty colleagues at IIM-B and other management schools in India in the future,” said Prof Rajluxmi V. Murthy, Chair, Office of Inclusion.
Most of the participants have work experience in different sectors and in diverse profiles, including Principal Researcher, Data Entry Operator, Implementation Executive, Business Development Manager, and so on, in organisations such as Dalit Enterprise, Victory eServices Private Limited, Chippersage Education Pvt Ltd, and MedRec Technologies.
Sharing her takeaways from the programme, Pre-doctoral Fellow Shivani Kushwaha said: “My journey during the pre-doctoral programme at IIM-B was enriching. It taught me how education liberates. The FPM coursework made me understand and appreciate economics in a much better way. The coursework has enhanced my learning experience and has brought about a steep change in my learning graph.”