WRITTEN ANALYSIS AND COMMUNICATION II

A study of IIM Udaipur

Assignment 3
Submitted to
Prof. Gita Chaudhuri

By
Group 9A
Anjan Jyoti Goswami, 122012
Neha Jangid, 122053
Rohit Kumar Oram, 122065
Prateek Shukla, 122078
Soumya Dasoju, 122094
Vikas Kumar Singh, 122104

On
December 02, 2012

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

UDAIPUR
Abstract
This report contains a detailed analysis of the organization - Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur
(IIM-U). The objective of the study is to analyze the current functioning of the institute as the youngest
institute in its league. The focus areas of the study and analysis are academics, placements,
administration and management, infrastructure and alignment of the vision and long term strategy of
the institute. The methodology was to collect primary data through interviews and surveys; secondary
data from the IIM-U website and others.

Initially, there were a lot of infrastructure related problems because time was a constraint while
managing issues like labor, connectivity to the place, temporary campus, government procedures and
Public Works Department (PWD). The long term strategy of the institute is to be one of the best in
teaching and research and to build an entrepreneurial mind set among the students. It would like to
connect emotionally to the people of Rajasthan and liked to be called as Rajasthan’s IIM. A survey about
the long term vision revealed words like ‘society’, ‘leadership’ came to the students’ minds.

Students are the building blocks and face of the institute to the outside world. So, the student survey
report and placement forms an important part of the report. It gives us a picture of how students have
perceived the institute and what they expect. It also puts light on the areas where there is a gap of
communication between the students and management. In terms of placements, IIM-U does not want
to carve a niche for themselves in any particular field. Instead, it wants to maintain a balance among the
various disciplines so that students can choose their own area of expertise.

The report concludes with some recommendations regarding academics, clubs/committees etc. based
on analysis of the data collected.

Word Count : 298

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Contents
Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... 1
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 3
Purpose of the report ............................................................................................................................... 3
Issues Identified ............................................................................................................................................ 3
Methodology................................................................................................................................................. 3
Interviews.................................................................................................................................................. 3
Survey........................................................................................................................................................ 4
Secondary Data ......................................................................................................................................... 4
Findings ......................................................................................................................................................... 4
Long Term Vision Alignment ..................................................................................................................... 4
Development and Communication of Vision ........................................................................................ 4
Strategies and Major Area of Focus ...................................................................................................... 5
PGP Program ......................................................................................................................................... 5
Societal Linkages ................................................................................................................................... 5
Students Perception of IIM-U’s Vision .................................................................................................. 5
Academics ................................................................................................................................................. 6
Infrastructure ............................................................................................................................................ 7
IIM Udaipur at Mohanlal Sukhadia University (MLSU) ......................................................................... 7
New Campus at BALICHA ...................................................................................................................... 8
Student Affairs .......................................................................................................................................... 8
Placements ................................................................................................................................................ 9
What do students want?..................................................................................................................... 10
What is the way ahead? ...................................................................................................................... 10
Student’s Perceptions ............................................................................................................................. 11
Conclusion and Recommendations ............................................................................................................ 12
Clubs/Committees: ............................................................................................................................. 12
Academics: .......................................................................................................................................... 12
Miscellaneous /others ........................................................................................................................ 12
Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................ 13
Exhibits ........................................................................................................................................................ 13

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Introduction
Indian Institute of Management Udaipur (IIM-U) is a newly established management school added to
the premier league of the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). The institute was established in 2009
and commenced its operations with a student intake of 58. Currently, it is running its second batch with
100 students. The institute is headed by Prof. Janat Shah as the Director. The institute offers a pedagogy
using the case study methodology of teaching by eminent and renowned faculties; both permanent and
visiting. The institute is currently operating out of a temporary campus, generously given by the
Mohanlal Sukhadia University; while the permanent campus with full-fledged facilities, is under
construction in the Balicha area of Udaipur.

Purpose of the report

The objective of the study is to analyze the current functioning of the institute as a newly established
one, and recommending the measures that the institute can adopt to carve a niche in the management
education landscape in India.

Issues Identified
To proceed with our analysis in a methodical fashion, we segregated the institute’s functioning into a
few important areas. Primary and secondary data was collected to learn extensively about the following:

 Vision alignment and long-term strategy

 Academics
 Infrastructure
 Student Affairs
 Placements

Methodology
For the purpose of this study, we collected primary and secondary data. The methods used were
interviews and surveys for primary data and the college website for secondary data. The schedule of the
information gathering is given in Exhibit 1.

Interviews
Since, IIM Udaipur is our home ground; we could set up interviews quite easily. We conducted
interviews with the faculty and management concerned with the areas of interest identified above. The
findings from these interviews are discussed in a later section.

The first interview was conducted with the Director of IIM-U, Prof. Janat Shah, regarding the long term
strategy that the institute has in store for the upcoming years. The second interview was conducted with
Mr. Dinkar Hiteshi, who is in charge of the infrastructure of the college. He shared with us the
developments so far in the existing temporary campus and the upcoming campus in Balicha. The
information about the faculty operations and academic performance was provided by Mr. Sasi Nair. Mr.
Joel Xavier gave insights about the placement activities of IIM-U, and as a student affairs manager,

3
highlighted the activities going in the campus, that he takes care of. Prof. Srinivasan Tatachari, who
takes a course on Organizational Behavior, shared with us his knowledge about the way culture is
building up in the institute and it’s functioning as an organization.

Survey
Another source of primary data was surveys. The best describers of any institute can be the members or
students. The students from both senior and junior batch were offered a survey soliciting their views on
various aspects of the institute. They were also asked to rate the institute on several parameters which
brought to light their expectations from the institute and the changes and progress they want. A survey
was also conducted to collect information regarding the academic infrastructure and academic
programs offered at the institute.

Secondary Data
The website of the institute acted as a rich source for providing the secondary data.

Findings
We shall discuss the findings from the interviews in this section

Long Term Vision Alignment

The vision of IIM-U has not been formally decided as on date, but the management has worked hard to
start the institute along some concrete values and ideas. According to Prof. Janat Shah, Director, these
are the lines along which he wants to build the institute:

1. The institute wants to establish itself as one of the best in India for teaching and research.
2. The institute wants to increase its scale and wants to reach to a level where we can admit one
thousand students within 10 years of its inception. The planned increase in number is not a
strategy that is imposed by any regulating authorities but an answer to cater to the growing
demands of professional education in the country.
3. The institute wants to contribute to the region.
4. In the long term, the institute wants to focus on building a reputation for the entrepreneurial
mindset of its students.

The main reason for the creation of new IIMs was to increase the reach of management education in
India and cater to the growing demands which were not being fulfilled fully by the older IIMs.

Development and Communication of Vision

Instead of deciding the vision at the inception of the institute, IIM-U started with an idea regarding its
vision and has involved its initial stakeholders, both students and faculty to frame its vision. It conducted
a mission and vision building workshop by the name of “My True North” on July 30, 2011 (My True
North). The aim of the exercise was to help its students in better understanding what they wanted out
of their stint at IIM-U and to help them envision their eventual goals post-MBA. The inputs were
incorporated in the idea for vision of the institute. It also conducted a PGP Transformation Research to
gain insights of how the student community perceives the institute. IIM-U is planning to conduct

4
another Visioning workshop in January 2013, where it is planning to lay out the formal vision of the
institute. The values and ideas of the institute are also formally and informally communicated to the
students and other stakeholders through initiatives like Open House with Director, media publications
from Media Interaction Cell and other similar initiatives.

Strategies and Major Area of Focus

As per Prof. Janat Shah, “We want to really focus on our Academics and building the culture of the
institute in the initial years. If we do that right, other things will follow.” When asked about the relative
priorities of different segments in different phases of the institute (Exhibit 2), he gave academics and
research as top priority, followed by student activities, placements and cultural activities.

PGP Program
The strategy for IIM-U PGP program is to be a transformational program. It does not want to follow any
existing trends but the aim is to reinvent the MBA curriculum in India. The director is in consultation
with Mr. Srikant M. Datar, the Arthur Lowes Dickinson Professor of Accounting at Harvard University on
rethinking the PGP program on lines of current scenario. He wants to focus on the mantra of
“Knowledge-Application-Reflection” so that students can use the learning from their time in the institute
in real scenarios. The institute wants to focus on its flagship course, the PGP program in the initial years.
This is the reason it is not planning for any major executive program in the initial years.

Societal Linkages
According to Prof. Janat Shah, “We would like to be known as Rajasthan’s IIM”. The director believes
that the society of Rajasthan and specially Udaipur has been very kind and facilitative to IIM-U in its
initial years. The institute would like to contribute as much as it can to make the relationship bilateral. It
would like to have an emotional linkage with the society. The institute has already carried out some
initiatives to further this linkage. It maintains a healthy relationship with MLSU, with which it currently
shares a campus. IIM-U has committed a shared faculty with MLSU and is working toward development
of management faculty in Rajasthan. In the recently held Women’s Entrepreneurial Workshop, IIM-U
gave a discount for local participants. The student’s initiative “Prayatna” is a group which strives to bring
about changes in the society through grass root level interactions with various sectors, including
education, healthcare, environment, etc.

Students Perception of IIM-U’s Vision

The students from PGP-I were asked to give their version of IIM-U’s vision as part of academic
interaction in the Facebook group created by Prof. Srinivasan Tatachari. Data was collected from that
group and represented student’s perceptions in the form of a word-cloud. A word-cloud represents the
words used most frequently in larger and bolder font. On analysis of the result, (Exhibit 3) it was found
that “Leaders” and “Society” ranked highest as per the students’ perspective. The words signifying
entrepreneurial mindsets were ranked relatively low. The word group corresponding to education and
academics also ranked lower. This shows that IIM-U has been able to communicate its vision regarding
society effectively towards students, although a gap still exists between institute’s communication and
students’ understanding regarding its messages of entrepreneurial mindset.

5
Academics
IIM-U has an Academic Advisory Board comprising of eminent academicians like Prof. Jahar Saha (former
director of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad), and Prof. M.R. Rao (former director
of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore) which helps the management in achieving the
high standards it has set for itself (Academic Advisory Board). In order to realize its goal to become a
preferred institute academically, IIM-U has been following a strategy to invest heavily in developing its
academic infrastructure, even though currently it is operating in a temporary campus. It has built state
of the art class rooms and IT infrastructure. It is the first institute in India to set up a Bloomberg lab and
is planning to set up an analytics lab in the near future. It aims to have the best and most experienced
visiting faculties and build a team of young teachers who can be the top management instructors of the
future. It has invested heavily in faculty development programs. In order to groom the permanent
faculties, academic and research mentors are provided to the faculty. IIM-U has decided not to have
posts for PGP, Administration and Placement Chairmen so as to free the faculty resources for teaching
and research. Administration at IIM-U is a separate division and the involvement of faculty is strictly on a
policy formulation level. It is also trying to build more and more strategic relationships with national and
international institutes. The students committee, Academic Council provides a link between the
students and the faculty regarding academic issues.

At present, the courses offered at IIMU are a PGP Course, full time residential program and a PGPX dual
degree program in Global Supply Chain Management in partnership with Purdue University, USA. We
shall focus on the PGP program. As part of the PGP program in general management, twenty three core
subjects are taught with an option for students to choose from thirty four elective courses (Exhibit 4). A
Management Development Program was conducted in 2011 – 2012 as also several Faculty Development
Programs.

An interview with Mr. Sasi Nair, the PGP Program Manager yielded some interesting insights about how
the institution views the PGP program and its expectations from the students.

The aim of the PGP course is to provide peer learning, group learning and classroom learning. Classroom
learning is facilitated by the professors who are one of the pillars of any educational institution. IIMU is
the first new IIM to complete the requirement to recruit twelve permanent faculty members. They could
achieve this thanks to the ‘unique’ idea of not requiring physical presence of faculty. These faculty
members will carry out their duties as expected, except that they are located elsewhere.

While recruiting faculty, the institute looks at the following: potential to deliver, potential to teach and
potential to carry out research. The institute also has a strategy of hiring young people and helping them
to be star professors. To encourage research, the institute has also contacted people from the industry
who can pursue their PhD while teaching here at IIM-U. The institute offers them a well-equipped library
and the freedom to carry out their research independently.

The visiting faculty at IIM-U is on par with that of other established institutes. They comprise leading
consultants from industry (twenty two) and academicians (five) (Exhibit 5).

6
The other part of the story is of course, the students. A batch profile is decided by the criteria that an
institute uses in selection. IIMU selected its current batch by emphasizing not only on the CAT scores,
but also various other factors like graduation, bachelors educational background etc. (IIMU website) It
aims to be a transformation program; any student who comes in must leave with a purpose and a
holistic way of thinking. This is ensured by a unique requirement at IIMU; the rural immersion program.
Every student has to spend time at the grass-roots level of India – her villages. This gives students an
exposure to the socio-economic life at the heart of India and they can keep it at the back of their mind
while implementing any decisions in future. Another unique feature of the course at IIM-U is its focus on
global exposure for its students. About 50 % of students undertake a two week stint at an international
location as part of the ‘International Business Practices’ Program. (IIMU website)

According to Mr. Nair, IIMU does not lack anything in terms of faculty or infrastructure or even quality of
students. He stressed that the perception students need to build of themselves is “We are as good as
anyone else”. With examples from his vast experience at other established institutes, he exhorted
students to develop a ‘can-do’ attitude and make use of every opportunity to interact with the industry.

Infrastructure
Infrastructure is also one of the premier attractions of the B schools in India. Every campus has
something unique to provide to its students. IIM-U, the youngest IIM has come up at its temporary
campus at Polymer Science Building at Mohanlal Sukhadia University (MLSU), Udaipur Rajasthan in July
2011. It has further plans to shift to its new campus at Balicha, Udaipur by 2015.

IIM Udaipur at Mohanlal Sukhadia University (MLSU)

The youngest IIM faced a lot of challenges in its initial days while setting up with its temporary campus
at Mohanlal Sukhadia University (MLSU), Udaipur Rajasthan. There was only a month to start the first
academic session in July 2011 and July being a rainy season, a lot of effort put in by the management
made it possible to come up with classroom and hostel facilities in time.

Academic Building
This campus has 4 classrooms, a library, a canteen, and hostel and mess facilities for around 150
students. Apart from this it has a gym, night canteen, a badminton court and a playground for
recreational activities. Currently there are 2000 plus books in the library along with some national and
international journals. There is expansion plan of library so that there can be a place for casual reading
and efforts are being made to have same kind of books and journals as in most of the top institutes of
the country like IIM A, ISB Hyderabad etc. The classrooms are one of the important priorities of the
institute. The classrooms have a semi-circular kind of seating arrangement, so that everyone can have a
clear view and attention of the professor in the class. The classrooms are high-tech, using materials
which have noise reduction properties which can absorb the external noise. There are fully air-
conditioned rooms including facilities of projector, multi- media and sound system. For finance junkies,
12 Bloomberg terminals are installed in the campus, which is one of the unique features in IIM Udaipur.

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IT Infrastructure
The Hostel and the academic building have 1 Gbps internet link in the campus which is provided by BSNL
and there is also a back-up link of 5 Mbps provided by TATA. IT department and a selected student body
“ConnectIT” looks after the IT infrastructure of the entire campus. IBM server at the data center
provides domain level security and data storage to students with 8 TB raw capacity. Video conferencing
facilities are provided in the classrooms so as to integrate virtual classrooms in the class. The
management also encourages the students to implement new technology and features in the campus.

New Campus at BALICHA

The new campus is spread over an area of 253 acres of land in Balicha area in Udaipur, Rajasthan which
has been allocated by Government of Rajasthan. The new campus is going to be constructed by the firm
‘Vastu Shilpa Architects’ and the chief architect is a colleague of the famous (late) Louis Kahn, who was
the chief architect of IIM- Ahmedabad.

A Project Management Committee has been formed which is looking after the construction of the new
campus. The campus will be constructed in 2 phases:

Phase 1: This will be constructed in an area of about 50-60 acres with a capacity of 600 students in the
campus. Apart from the academic building and hostel facilities the new campus would be having
Cafeteria, Auditorium, and Amphitheatre, 2 playgrounds, gym and residence for the faculties. This phase
would mostly be completed by 2015 and the students will be shifted during the summers so that the
curriculum does not get affected. The campus is constructed as per the norms of GRIHA rating (griha
india) which has some of benefits such as 30 percent reduction in energy consumption, less waste
generation, green supply chain etc. The main motive is to have a lean organization where is a continuous
scope of improvement in terms of efficiency and effectiveness.

Phase 2: The second phase is part of the long term strategy with a plan to increase the capacity to 1200
by 2018. The design of the campus would incorporate the rich heritage of Mewar, south-central region
of Rajasthan with the blend of latest technology. The projected plan has some small artificial water
bodies like an Oasis which adds beauty of the campus. The shifting process of the campus will most
probably be outsourced to a private agency but some of the core areas such as IT infrastructure and
library will be handled by the college itself.

Student Affairs
One of the definitions of ‘culture’ goes like this: ‘The predominating attitudes and behavior that
characterize the functioning of a group or organization.’ (The Free Dictionary) At IIM Udaipur, Mr. Joel
Xavier, Student Affairs Manager is charged with the role of facilitating the process of building this great
culture. Building a culture is so important to an institute, especially a newly established institute like
IIMU, because this is what defines the students who graduate from here. They will be ambassadors of
this culture and the IIMU way when they pursue careers in their chosen fields. It is what keeps the
institute going, brings the alumni back, and attracts fresh talent every year.

According to Mr. Xavier, the top three adjectives for the culture at IIMU right now are ‘fledgling’,
’evolving’ and ‘unique’. The aim of the institute is to move towards a culture which is ‘vibrant’, ‘burned

8
on the soul’ and ‘unique’. What most of the established campuses have evolved over the last twenty
odd years, IIMU wants to evolve within the next five years. For this to happen, each batch needs to
contribute four to five significant things to the annual calendar. This can be events like the Leadership
Summit or even some traditions, like the recent enthusiasm for cycling. These events must come
together as incremental changes which move toward a common goal.

Mr. Xavier also has a goal to encourage students to ‘”create tangible artifacts to represent the IIMU
life”. An example is the Brass Rat – the class ring that every MIT graduate cherishes. (Wikipedia - The
Brass Rat) Another idea introduced to the students was to create a constitution that embodies the IIMU
way.

As with any vision, there are always challenges. “As a group, the mindset is lethargic” – this is the
biggest challenge faced while implementing any new idea. Also the small batch size, coupled with the
20% – 30 % population who are not interested in any activity, makes the turnout at events pretty small.
At more established institutions where a strong culture is already flourishing; the problems are different
– “an unwillingness to accept what already is tradition, re-inventing the wheel, and sometimes just
overkill”. Regarding participation in events at other colleges, the view expressed was that currently, it is
better to focus on events within college. For the right culture to be built at this nascent stage of IIMU,
things need to happen here on campus rather than winning glory elsewhere.

The activity of students is usually gauged by how the clubs function. In IIMU, there are clubs for different
interests like entrepreneurship, marketing, sports etc. Refer to Exhibit xx for a complete list. According
to Mr. Xavier, the ideal club structure is unregulated; where students manage their affairs with minimal
intervention from faculty. The Cultural Club celebrated this festive season with great fanfare; Finomina,
the finance club has some exciting events lined up; and Saksham, the Entrepreneurship cell recently
concluded its first event – a B Plan contest.

These activities are steps in the right direction. And there will certainly be more focus on this area once
January 2013 rolls around, as that is when prospective students will be looking at the institute and the
exciting things that happen here.

Placements
Placements are one of the most important yardsticks through which a b-school is being judged and
perceived. As such is has been one of our prime focus of study. Being established in 2011, IIM Udaipur is
still doing its groundwork in creating corporate relationships and brand name for itself. In our study we
have interviewed Mr. Joel Xavier, Manager, Student Affairs and Placements, IIM Udaipur. With his
insights we were able to draw a picture of how IIM Udaipur perceives itself and the initiatives to be
taken to build a solid foundation in the years to come.

The placement team comprises of 14 members, led by Mr. Joel Xavier and Ms. Kavita Chotrani and 12
students, 6 each from both batches (Exhibit 6, (IIMU website)). The placement team is formed through a
rigorous 5 step hybrid process of selection and election. The students are expected to have good
communication and negotiation skills with a goal of selling the institute to the corporate world. IIM
Udaipur places itself among the top 40 institutes in the country while doing the ground work to enter

9
into the top 15 in the next five years. “Alumni are the most important contributors to placements. They
are the guys coming back to the campus in 7-8 years for the placements” said Mr. Xavier.

As Mr. Xavier puts it, “Our students are our ambassadors to the outside world, and our biggest USP
when it comes to placements”. It is an agenda of the placement team to portray the institute’s world-
class faculty, state-of-the-art infrastructure and the PGP program that ensures both rural and
international exposure to its students.

What do students want?

The placement teams target companies and filters them on four important aspects, namely:

1. Brand Recognition
2. Reputation of the Employer
3. Level of Professionalism
4. Interest of the students

While the branded companies comprises of about 40% of the companies that confirm their presence in
the campus, 40% are medium scale or start-ups and the rest are PSUs. The placement team connects
with the corporate in three ways, namely Summer Internships, Final Placements and Guest Lectures.
Apart from the traditional ways of calls and emails, the team is further strengthened by the support of
the institute’s Director, Prof. Janat Shah, who personally meets industry leaders. Mr. Xavier and Ms.
Chotrani also interact with corporate leaders through face-to-face meetings. Guest Lectures are a way of
showcasing the talent of the batch to the senior managers which helps to influence their decisions of
visiting the campus for placement purposes.

While many campuses in India have made a niche for themselves in different streams as finance,
marketing etc., how does IIM Udaipur see itself in this respect? “Niche is more of a trap, created by
majority of a batch of students choosing to pursue a career in a certain discipline year after year. It has
more dangers then benefits.” – Mr. Xavier. While IIM Udaipur plans to keep a balance among different
disciplines, to give the students a level field to choose their field of expertise, it loses out in certain
functions, as HR (7% students), which is evident from the Summer Placements 2011 report (Exhibit 7,
(IIMU website)). Integrity being one of the key ingredients in building a world-class institution, the
placement cell has decided to report their first ever final placements with IPRS 2.

What is the way ahead?

In IIM Udaipur, faculty is never involved in the day-to-day operations of the placement cell. Mr. Xavier
wants to build a tradition where the complete functioning of the placement cell is in the hands of the
students. He believes that it is the most sustainable model where students take responsibility of
choosing their own career paths and working towards the same. As the batch size grows the
responsibility of the placement cell increases manifolds. Mr. Xavier agrees that after a certain threshold,
getting all the students placed becomes next to impossible. At that point we might switch to the model
of the Ivy League colleges, where students work out their own way to the corporate world.

10
Looking into a five year horizon, the placement team wishes to establish strong relations with some of
the largest corporate houses in the country and abroad. The shift to the permanent campus in Balicha
will also be a big boost to the placement cell both from the point of view of Infrastructure and as an USP
to pitch to the corporate. But the most important ingredient will always be the students.

Student’s Perceptions
Students are an important part of any institute; they can be considered as its building blocks. In the long
run students become the representatives of the institute. There is a mutual coordination and
expectation from student to institute and vice-versa. So, in addition to interviewing the authorities we
surveyed students as well to know their views on the good areas and areas for improvement of the
institute. A total of 51 responses were received, out of which 27% students from Batch 2011-2013
responded and 73% from Batch 2012-2014 (Exhibit 8)

Cultural Activities: Forty two percent of the students felt that we are doing well as an institute in
organizing and conducting the various cultural activities. (Exhibit 8)

Clubs and Committees: When we asked students whether they were satisfied with the working and
enthusiasm within and outside the clubs/committee, the major response was either it’s just average or
people are not satisfied. It gave us an idea that this is the domain where we need to work hard to come
up with some recommendations to compete in the race with other top B schools.

Extra-curricular/Co-curricular activities: We asked students whether they felt the institute

encourages involvement in extra-curricular and co-curricular activities. We received a mixed response,
though only 4% students are extremely satisfied (Exhibit 8), thirty neutral/average and rest equally
distributed from dissatisfied to just satisfied.

Academics: This is the domain where we found a clear majority. Regarding the academic standards at
the institute, 15% were extremely satisfied and only 4% people found to be dissatisfied (Exhibit 8),
which clearly implies that we are doing well in this domain. Majority of students were satisfied with the
quality of faculty at the institute.

Placements: We asked students to rate the placement in institute, 15% said that they are dissatisfied,
29% said that it’s poor or just fine, 48% said that its average and 8% mentioned they are satisfied
(Exhibit 8). As we are a new institute, placement plays an important role for capturing best talent of
country and forming a reputation in terms of rankings.

Others: In the domain of research and development, the students’ perception is that there is a need for
improvement in this domain. Apart from that, we received mixed responses about student opinion
whether they get exposure/opportunities in the institute to showcase their talent. With respect to
infrastructure, people are just fine with the current infrastructure but they are very happy and satisfied
with the new campus proposal. (Exhibit 8)

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Conclusion and Recommendations
Bringing the report to a close, we would like to mention that it was an eye-opening experience for us to
study our very own institute, IIM-U. Based on the different areas we studied: Long Term vision,
Academics, Infrastructure, Student Affairs and Placements, we found that there are plenty of things that
the institute is already doing to move in the chosen direction. Upon analysis, here are a few
recommendations we would like to offer:

Clubs/Committees:
 A faculty mentor for the club who will encourage activities.
 A system to monitor the contribution of members, so that everyone is accountable. If there
are under-performing members, there should be a provision to replace them.
 There is a need to conduct more events on campus. The administration can encourage this
by incorporating club activities in the PGP schedule and budgeting to finance these.
 Club meetings at-least once in a month and the slot should be assigned by PGP so as it will
not clash with any academic engagements.

Academics:
 Though a case study reflects the practical approach of learning but it lasts as a story in the mind
and might be washed out in sometime. If students can be exposed to more practical situations
like live projects, then they can incorporate these learnings better.
 Proper measure, for example training, should be taken in order to efficiently utilize the
infrastructure resources, ex Bloomberg lab.

Miscellaneous /others
 Encourage students to publish whitepapers/International papers.
 Encourage clubs and committees to participate in research and development.
 There should be a forum to share experiences of interactions with industry mentors with other
students.
 Peer evaluation in groups from time to time and anonymous feedback to PGP(Academics) on
the parameters of everyone’s contribution in terms of group dynamics, this will help in
eliminating free riders in groups.
 Since the institute wants to have an entrepreneurial focus, encourage the E-Cell Saksham.
 There was a gap in communication of vision as evidenced by lack of the word ‘entrepreneur’ in
the word-cloud. Take steps to communicate this more effectively to all stakeholders.

Word Count: 4980

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Bibliography
(n.d.). Retrieved from griha india: http://www.grihaindia.org/

(n.d.). Retrieved from The Free Dictionary: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/culture

(n.d.). Retrieved from IIMU website: http://www.iimu.ac.in

(n.d.). Retrieved from Wikipedia - The Brass Rat: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_class_ring

Academic Advisory Board. (n.d.). Retrieved from IIM-U website: http://www.iimu.ac.in/academic-

advisory-board/

My True North. (n.d.). Retrieved from IIM-U website: http://www.iimu.ac.in/my-true-north/

Exhibits

Exhibit 1: Schedule of collection of data

Interviewee Conducted on Interviewer Interview length

Prof. Janat Shah 22 Nov 2012, 6:00 PM Prateek Shukla and 1.5 Hrs
Vikas Kumar Singh
Sasi Nair 1 Dec,2012 4:00 PM Soumya Dasoju .5 Hr
Joel Xavier 21 Nov, 2012 4:00 PM Anjan Jyoti Goswami 40 mins
and Soumya Dasoju
Col. Dinker Hiteshi 27 Nov, 2012 5:00 PM Rohit Kumar Oram and .5 Hr
Neha Jangid
Students (PGP I and 26 to 28 Nov, 2012 Vikas Kumar Singh 2 Days
PGP II)
Prof. Srinivasan 22 Nov, 2012 10:15 AM Prateek Shukla 10 Mins
Tatachari

Exhibit 2: Relative priorities of different segments in different phases of the institute

Year 1-5 Year 5-10 Year 10-15

Academics 1 1 1
Placement 2 2 3
Cultural Activity 3 3 2
Student Activities 2 2 2
Research & 1 1 1
Development

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Exhibit 3: Word Cloud

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Exhibit 4: Excerpt from survey on Academic Programs

4.1 Please provide the total no. of courses offered and what % of curriculum time do you allocate for
the following?

S. No. Course Total no. of Subjects Percentage (%)

1. Core Course 23 45%

2. Elective Course 34 45%

3. Live Projects with Industry Not fixed

4. Summer Projects NA 10%

Total

Exhibit 5: Excerpt from the survey on Faculty

5.4 Number of Visiting Faculty- Teaching Full Course (B-School Course Only):

(Provide the list of Names with Subject and Time Table)(Use separate sheet to give more details)

Total No. (Visiting Faculty) No. From Academic No. From Corporate

27* 22 5

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Exhibit 6: Placement team at IIM-U

Manager, Student Affairs and Placements

Joel Xavier joel.xavier@iimu.ac.in +91 8290755158

Officer, Placements

Kavita Chotrani kavita.chotrani@iimu.ac.in +91 9983066656

Student Placement Committee

P.Swetha p.swetha@iimu.ac.in +91 9982850400

Sunny Nagpal Sunny.nagpal@iimu.ac.in +91 9983055126

Rishabh Chadha Rishabh.chadha@iimu.ac.in +91 9983057825

Gaurav Kishnani Gaurav.kishnani@iimu.ac.in +91 8239138313

Arvind Sairam Arvind.sairam@iimu.ac.in +91 9982807754

Juhi Panchal juhi.panchal@iimu.ac.in +91 9660892023

Richa Sharma richa.sharma@iimu.ac.in +91 9602333408

Rahul Verma rahul.verma@iimu.ac.in +91 9620048796

Ritu Singh ritu.singh@iimu.ac.in +91 7742317734

Sameer Hasan sameer.hasan@iimu.ac.in +91 9602333713

Anjan Jyoti Goswmi anjanjyoti.goswami@iimu.ac.in, +91 7742314744

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Exhibit 7: Sector-wise analysis of Summer Placements 2011

Exhibit 8: Survey results

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