Over the past one year we have seen the new IIMs coming up, which are IIM Ranchi, IIM Rohtak, IIM Raipur and now IIM Trichy, IIM Kashipur and IIM Udaipur. The question that is arising in the minds of MBA education community is: Are these new IIMs following the footsteps of the older IIMs or are they developing a new DNA for themselves?
Dr. M J Xavier, Director, IIM Ranchi recently provided the answer at the MBAUniverse.com Indian Management Conclave while participating in a panel discussion on the topic ‘The New IIMs: Leveraging the legacy, or creating a new DNA?’. Dr. Xavier, while addressing the gathering of VCs, Directors and Deans of management institutions of the country mentioned about the DNA of IIM Ranchi. He said, “The DNA of IIM Ranchi can be described in the following manner: Holistic development and thought leadership through erudite fusion of eastern knowledge and western processes.” He further explained the DNA of the first IIM of the new IIMs’ club. “The erudite fusion and thought leadership takes place through synthesis of new knowledge, which takes place through research on emerging areas, on Indian management and for the local environment,” he said. “The holistic development takes place through development of the body, mind and the soul, development of the people around, programs for the development of institutions of the area and program for inclusive growth. In this context we have made it compulsory for the students of IIM Ranchi to undergo rural immersion program, environment restoration programmes, programmes for NGOs etc,” Dr. Xavier informed the gathering.Taking the opportunity Dr. Xavier also explained the significance of the B school logo. He mentioned, “The bird depicted in the IIM Ranchi logo is a crow. The bird takes pride going towards the forward direction and signifies our journey in helping the country reach newer growth levels. The slogan is Bahumukhi Vikaas Gantabyam. It reflects the institute’s vision, which is ‘All round development is the aim.’ The colours used in the logo are green and grey. While the colour green signifies growth and change, grey is the colour of creation and stabilizes the logo,” Dr. Xavier elaborated. Dr. Xavier also shared with the esteemed gathering the key focus areas of IIM Ranchi. He said that the B school is focusing on newer areas of research, such as Business Analytics, Neuro Management, Indian Management, Mining and Manufacturing, Inclusive Growth and Regional Development. Talking about the faculty, Dr. Xavier stated that IIM Ranchi has a mix of faculty from full time faculty, who are PhDs from India and abroad, Adjunct faculty, who have more than 10 years industry experience, visiting faculty from other institutes and industry and scholars in residence, who are thought leaders in different areas who may be associated on a full time or part time basis. The final thought which Dr. Xavier shared was, “Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people. We seek your support for all our unreasonable moves.”
