Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM‐C) is looking to strengthen its presence in the global education marketplace in the areas of research and learning.
The institute is exploring the possibility of bringing in an entirely different approach to funding its growth opportunities. For this, IIM‐C, one of the oldest B‐schools in India, is looking to create partnerships with organisations and individuals, particularly its alumni, said Anju Seth, Director.
Seth, who has held the position of Pamplin Professor of Management at Virginia Tech, US, before taking charge of IIM‐C, has been working hard for the past year to strengthen the linkages across batches so as to build a pan‐batch IIM‐C alumni network, and to strengthen the connect of alumni with the institute.
With a view to strengthening its presence in the field of global education, IIM-C is looking to roll out shorter duration programmes and executive programmes, both through offline and online channel leveraging on its strengths in some key areas such as analytics.
Building on core strengths
“Internationalisation has traditionally been one of the pillars of our strategy and I am enthusiastic about expanding our global presence and impact in the different arenas of our academic activities,” Seth told BusinessLine on Campus .
IIM‐C has entered a partnership with Coursera to offer online certificate programmes. Such a partnership offers great potential to IIM‐C to increase its presence in the global education marketplace in areas such as analytics and supply chain management, where the institute enjoys core competence.
“We plan to build on our core strength areas in our expansion plans. We are working with multiple partners to develop strategic initiatives that we can take forward in a sustainable manner for the mutual benefit of all,” she said.
The institute is engaged in discussions with several universities around the world that have a strategic interest in India for programmes that will help build their research and educational capabilities.
Apart from collaborations in the areas of research and learning, the institute is exploring the possibility of collaborating with incubators worldwide through its IIM‐C Innovation Park.
“As the only Indian business school to be a member of CEMS, the noted global alliance in management education, and having partnerships with many universities around the world, we offer our students valuable opportunities for ‘study abroad’ experiences. We are exploring how to deepen those even further and to attract more students from overseas to our campus,” said Anju Seth.
IIM‐C, she said, is engaged in discussions with universities across the world for faculty exchanges as well.
Driving impact
The institute has a broad portfolio of successful programmes that are in great demand. “The role of the Institute is to challenge and inspire students to enable them to achieve their potential for both personal and professional growth, and to create a solid impact in their chosen fields of work.” Seth remarked.
“The institute’s vision of global eminence is to build on our strengths and capabilities in order to position itself for even greater impact in the worlds of business, education, and research. Our aim is for worldwide recognition for innovative leadership and a major impact in all the arenas of our activities” she added.
Funding growth
While most of the older IIMs have been able to create strong partnerships with organisations and individuals, particularly alumni, when it comes to funding, the practice has been fairly ‘latent’ at IIM‐C, Seth said.
However, IIM-C is fortunate to have a loyal alumni base with great passion for the institute; and they are now engaged in new initiatives to stimulate giving back to their alma mater.
“The institute’s ecosystem has much to gain from the deep connections among our talented alumni,” she noted.