IIM Indore Conference on Excellence in Research and Education (CERE) commenced themed ‘Management Metamorphosis: Living with the pandemic’ witnessed over 400 participants, guests and delegates virtually.
Director Himanshu Rai noted that CERE 2021 will also be introducing a ‘Lifetime Achievement Award for Research Excellence’ which would be declared on the last day of the conference, June 20, 2021.
Roundtable of IIM Directors
The first day of the conference featured a panel discussion with the Directors of four IIMs — Prof Bharat Bhasker, Director, IIM Raipur; Prof Pawan Kumar Singh, Director, IIM Tiruchirappalli; Prof Rishikesha T. Krishnan, Director, IIM Bangalore; and Prof Shailendra Singh, Director, IIM Ranchi; who shared their thoughts on the topic ‘Management Education: The Covid Challenges.’ The session was moderated by Prof Himanshu Rai. Rai noted that Covid has impacted everyone’s life and every sector including education.
“We had to shift from offline to online drastically. Pandemic taught me to be compassionate and to understand that if the educational institutes have the facilities to adapt to technology, its not necessary that the students living in the remote areas will also be comfortable with this change. They may not have the facilities and the equipment to continue their learning with the speed we deliver the lectures. We ensured that the lectures were recorded and made available to these students, so that they don’t lag behind,” he said.
Prof Bharat Bhasker pointed out that all the industries are moving towards artificial intelligence and machine learning. “The challenge is not the enhancement in technology, its about the fact that we are not able to move as fast as the technology. We need to find a way so that the robots, humans, and humanoids can co-exist,” he said.
Speaking about management education, Prof Pawan Kumar Singh, spoke about challenges in education system, which existed even before the pandemic, hence it is high time we find solutions to these problems. “Offline and online education both have challenges. But the educational institutions need to focus on the problems we have been facing and develop the students in a way that they are able to face the rapidly changing world with strength and skills,” he said.
Prof Rishikesha T. Krishnan focused on digital transformation and how the increase in data will help us better in research. “We now have abundant data and we understand the importance of data analytics. Hence, with the emerging data technology, the educational institutes now need to focus on providing more specialised and tech-driven programmes,” he said.
Prof Shailendra Singh talked about the declining number of students in various exchange programmes amid the pandemic. “The educational institutes now need to focus on providing a revised curriculum which enhances the student’s skills. This pandemic has encouraged us to look for opportunities and made us think about how the nature supports us to thrive, not just survive,” he said.
Nuances of research
The day also witnessed four workshops which provided a platform to the participants to develop their research and publication skills. A workshop on paper development was conducted by Prof Abrar Ali Saiyed, Ozyegin University. Another workshop on conducting case research on entrepreneurship was conducted by Prof Anjan Ghosh, Narxoz Business School, Board of Director, Paul R Lawrence Fellowships.
A workshop conducted by Prof Abhishek Srivastava, IIM Kashipur, focused on publication tips, wherehe shared some insightful tips with the participants to enhance their publishing skills. The fourth workshop was conducted on experimental research, where Prof Sudipta Mandal, Faculty, IIM Indore, equipped the participants with nuances of research.
The second day of the workshop would witness a workshop on case teaching by Prof Srinivas Gunta, IIM Indore. A plenary session on the topic ‘Impact of Covid-19 on research in management’ will also take place.