New IIMs do well with placements

The new Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs ) appear to be well on their way to a good start, thanks to the mentoring by their established predecessors.

"The mentorship programmes have meant that the students at new IIMs get the chance to interact with the best in the country. This has meant not just better exposure but also more credibility for students," said a professor from the management information system (MIS) department at IIM-Calcutta.

IIM Calcutta is mentoring IIM-Ranchi and this means IIM Ranchi students are  taught by the country's best finance faculty.

"We have been able to ride the IIM-Calcutta mentorship programme which along with my marketing contacts has helped students get the best of both marketing and finance worlds. Our average summer internship salaries have gone up to Rs 22,500, at times better than the older of the new IIMs," said M J Xavier, director, IIM-Ranchi.

Aditya Somani, student, IIM-Ranchi says, "While it is correct to state that we are at a disadvantage because 50 per cent of out teachers are visiting faculty, what has worked to our advantage is that the technology has made the faculty members  available even at a distance."

For Somani, the decision to choose IIM-Ranchi was difficult because of the fact that besides its IIM pedigree, the institute really had nothing more to offer, not even a director that was available full time in June 2010. In fact a small library, a couple of classrooms, albeit well maintained, and a mess in a borrowed building is the available infrastructure at IIM-Ranchi.

Summer placements have surpassed expectations for the institute's 44 students. Everyone has found paid internship positions, with recruiters from companies like Nokia and ICICI having visited the makeshift campus.

IIM-Raipur tenth in the IIM system, is looking at establishing not just its presence as an A-list B-school, but has also taken it upon itself to improve the overall Chhattisgarh ecology, given especially the fact that the state's development has been hindered by Naxalism.

"The students have scored in summer placements despite the fact that operations started almost 6 months late from the scheduled date of initiation. The students will increasingly be interacting with the top brass of the Chhattisgarh government aiding involvement of management formulas to the state," said BS Sahay, director, IIM-Raipur.

IIM-Raipur is being mentored by faculty at IIM-Indore.

The story is replicated at IIM-Rohtak where during student were able to secure offers from Ernst & Young and Reliance among other big corporate names for paid summer positions.

IIM-Rohtak is looking at increasing the size of its faculty from the current four to 20 over the next three months.

The three institutes along with IIM-Tiruchirapalli have come up with the concept of the smart classroom. Technologically heightened classrooms, each one built at a cost of Rs 50-60 lakh will connect students across the four institutes giving students the  IIMs advantage.