New batch at IIM-A sees share of non-engineers rise to 20%

It's the highest share in the last five years

The 53rd batch of 2016-18 at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A)'s flagship post graduate programme (PGP) saw student diversity improving over last year.

As per the institute, with the admission process concluding on June 30, 2016, the new batch consists of 20 per cent non-engineers, the highest in the past five years, and 21 per cent women students, a significant increase over last year. As against this, the 2015-17 batch saw nine per cent of incoming students being non-engineers and 14 per cent being female students.

"IIM-A's vision is that we educate leaders of enterprises. We are continually assessing our admissions process critically to ensure we are selecting candidates best positioned to be leaders of enterprises. We are delighted that in selecting potential leaders who can contribute to their own and their colleagues' growth and learning, we have also achieved a diverse mix in the entering class. In a discussion-based learning environment, such as ours, diversity of participants' backgrounds and inclusivity of the institution's culture contribute significantly to a positive learning environment," said Ashish Nanda, Director, IIM-A.

According to IIM-A, the increase in diversity of students can be correlated to some changes in the admission process introduced by the institute in 2014-16. Apart from short-listing candidates for interviews based on CAT scores, IIM-A has been admitting top candidates from seven broad academic disciplines.

"Diversity in the student population helps in enriching the learning process by bringing in diverse perspectives in the class-room discussion. It appears we are on the right track," said T Bandyopadhyay, former Chairman, PGP Admissions at IIM-A, who led the admissions process for the 2016-18 batch.