Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIM-K) celebrated its 19th annual convocation with K Radhakrishnan, former Chairman of ISRO, gracing the event as the chief guest. The chairman of IIM-K board, AC Muthiah and director-in-charge of IIM-K, Kulbhushan Balooni were also at the event, along with the members of the IIM-K board and trustees.
The event marked the completion of an academic programme, and saw 524 students getting their degrees. A sense of accomplishment was written all over the faces of the 346 Post Graduate Diploma in Management students of 2017, the 172 students of Executive Post Graduate Programme in Management 2017 (83 from EPGP Kochi and 89 from EPGP Kozhikode), and the six students of the doctoral programme who were awarded the title of Fellow Programme in Management (Doctoral Degree).
Gold medals for scholastic performance were awarded to Aishwarya Ram, Anish Kumar Aggarwal and Himanshu Dhingra of the PGP batch. The gold medal for all-round performance was awarded to Govind Haridas of PGP. The gold medal for the Executive Scholastic Performance were awarded to Chintan Gundaliya and S Ranganathan.
Inspirational speeches
In his convocation address to the graduating students, Dr Radhakrishnan emphasised on the opportunities India offers as one of the most dynamic economies of the world, and urged the graduating students to use this as a launch pad for making India the next biggest technology-based manufacturer in the world. He also highlighted the importance of keeping an open mind and learning from all, while dealing with the inherent differences.
In his remarks to graduates, Director Kulbhushan Balooni talked about the importance of having self-confidence in one’s abilities. He quoted the famous lines “Speak the truth and do what is right, you shall receive every courage and defeat every might”. The director also talked about the achievements of the institute and in particular, about the significant contributions made by the faculty, research scholars and students.
AC Muthiah, Chairman, Board of Governors, IIM-K, in his welcome address to students, talked about the importance of character building and perseverance. He also talked about the unique SDP programme at IIM-K and said that making the Social Development Project (SDP) a mandatory course for PGP helps to bridge the community-institution gap and creates socially responsible managers, and stands testimony to IIM-K’s commitment to be a socially relevant institution.