Iim-Bangalore Curriculum To Be Given A Millennium Look

The Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore, is giving its curriculum a brand-new look for the millennial batch which will enter campus in early June, with a number of credits pared down to 48 from 56, leaner, meaner courses and a jumbo sized elective course for second-year students.

"As a part of our processes, we review the Post Graduate Programme content (PGP) every three years but all the past changes have been more like tinkering. This time around, it's a really big step which has taken almost the whole of last year to fine tune," Janat Shah, IIMB's PGP chairperson, said.

 

Shah said the new-look curriculum has come about after seeing top business schools worldwide reworking their courses and giving students more time on the field and greater industry exposure.

"There was a realisation that our students were doing too many credits and not going in-depth into work that involves interacting with the industry," Shah said.

IIMBs earlier curriculum had a number of one-credit courses which have been consolidated and the total credit reduced by 12. IIMB is the first among the IIMs to take this step, Shah said.

"We are taking a big risk because there is one school of thought that believes students will tend to take it easy if we reduce the workload but we have gone ahead with the decision to reduce the credits from 56 to 48, which is quite substantial," Shah said.

So, IIMBs 2,000 batch will have the entire core course curriculum clubbed into the first year and at least 75 electives in the second year.

The Indian Economy, Business and Ethical Values, and Computer Usage Skills for Management and Operations Management modules are among those which have been snipped and tucked in considerably in the new system.

IIMB has the highest of electives while the average across the other IIMs ranges around 50.

"There's a lot more commitment from the faculty for the new system and we have also strengthened our orientation programme," Shah said.

In its first ever rankings of Asia's MBA schools, released last week, the `Asiaweek' magazine ranked IIMB the fifth best business school in Asia, after IIM (Ahmedabad), Singapore Business School, Asian Institute of Management and the Melbourne Business School.

For the best full time MBA programs, IIMB ranks 12th in the Asiaweek survey and comes in at sixth place for the best executive programs.

IIMB, which is already using the concept of `faculty mentor' with good success, is looking at introducing the concept of `alumni mentor' where each student will have one alumni member to network with on an ongoing basis.

This September, at least 24 IIMB students will be going on an exchange programme to top notch business schools overseas.

"Our aim is to ensure that at least 25 per cent of every batch goes overseas every year for the exchange programme," Shah said.

Last year, 24-year-old IIMB graduate Saurabh Singh created a splash in the IIM history books bagging a 100,000 pounds offer from MMG, London at the end of his exchange programme stint at the London Business School even as overseas pre-placement offers at the IIMs hit new highs every year.