Indian Institute of Management Tiruchirappalli welcomed the sixth batch of Fellow Programme in Management (FPM) and the seventh batch of Post-Graduate Programme in Management (PGPM). Present at the occasion were dignitaries from the industry and academia, the student fraternity and parents.
The proceedings began with an invocation by the institute choir, followed by a lamp-lighting ceremony. The welcome address was delivered by Smita Chattopadhyay, Chairperson, FPR (Fellow Programme in Management & Research). Comparing the rigour of the academic programme to a metaphoric “golden pressure cooker”, she advised the students to buckle up to the pressure and at the same time, not forget to enjoy.
Bhimaraya Metri, Director of IIM Tiruchirappalli, addressed the new batch of PGP and FPM students as “the luckiest batch”, because they will be starting their course from the new campus, which spans across 175 acres with a state-of-art library and research centres. He put forward that a global restructuring is happening, with more and more countries getting added to the list of ageing nations — America, China, Japan — and the young population of Africa taking over the world in future. Hence, he advised the students to position themselves to do things different. “Dream big, learn and unlearn many things. There is no substitute for hard work and at the same time smart work is imperative,” he said. He also congratulated all the winners of the merit awards.
Kumar Ramanathan, CEO & MD, Positive Integers, the guest of honour for the function, shared his thoughts on the future of the world. “We are moving from a world of physicality to digital. We are living in an increasingly instrumented, interconnected and intelligent world,” he said. This would have serious ramifications on humans, one being, machines growing faster than humans. He also shared four cardinal principles with the students — keep away the career growth ladders of the corporate world, stay curious, expect numerous cycles of learning and obsolescence, and develop the ability to master the rescue act.
Muthukumar Thanu, CHRO, TAFE Group, the chief guest, delivered the keynote address. He emphasised on how today’s real world talents like ideation, clarity of thought and expression, the need to be certain even during ambiguities, the ability to set direction and finding opportunities in adversities. He talked about how important it is to be shameless in seeking knowledge and that peer learning is the best form of learning. He further added that “this institute is an experiential laboratory. It is a place where you conceptualise, introspect, take a learning out of it and try to experiment”.
This was followed by felicitation of the students of PGP 2016-2018 batch, for their academic achievements. Students who ranked first at the end of each of the three terms were awarded a book grant of ₹2,000 and a certificate of merit.