The Office of International Affairs, and the Office of Alumni Relations at IIM Bangalore launched ‘Athithi’, a unique initiative where, during their term at IIM-B, international exchange students will have the opportunity to spend a weekend at the homes of IIM-B alumni.
The Student Exchange Programme (SEP) at IIM-B is one of the key internationalisation initiatives of the B-school. The programme aims at providing diversity in the classroom and international exposure to students, while maintaining the high academic standards of IIM-B.
This year, 79 students from B-schools such as Copenhagen Business School, Denmark; HEC Paris; International University of Japan, Graduate School of International Management; and IPADE Business School, Mexico, to name a few, are currently furthering their academic pursuits at IIM-B.
During their three months here, the international students will experience life on the IIMB campus. ‘Athithi’ will now add to their rich India experience, a release from IIM-B said.
“The ‘Athithi’ initiative, with support from our alumni, will help global management students experience the Indian way of life,” said Professor G. Raghuram, Director, IIM Bangalore, at the launch of the initiative while welcoming the 79 exchange students from 32 countries to IIMB, here today.
“We are looking to roll out ‘Athithi’ from the last weekend of September,” said S Parthasarathy, Head of Alumni Relations at IIM Bangalore.
Arun Menon, from IIMB’s PGP Class of ’94, says he is happy to host the visiting students. Arun runs an automation and robotics firm. “My 20-year-old daughter is studying Economics and Math in Colorado Springs, USA. She spent her second year in France and used to visit a ‘host family’ during the year. It was a terrific experience for her,” he says. Arun would like to extend his daughter’s wonderful experience, to visiting students, through the ‘Athithi’ initiative that his alma mater has now launched.
“We are looking forward to feedback from both the students and the host families. This feedback will be available to future students for reference,” said Anuradha Shukla, from the Office of International Affairs (OIA) at IIMB.
For more on IIMB’s globalisation initiatives, click on this link .