NIRF is acknowledgement of IIM-A maintaining education, research & practice standard: Errol D'Souza

In an exclusive interview with Shiksha.com, IIM Ahmedabad director Professor Errol D’Souza talks about the b-school’s NIRF ranking, academic strategy, placement plans, admission criteria, upcoming collaborations and more.

Surpassing some of the prestigious management schools in India, the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad topped the NIRF rankings 2021 in the management category. Not just other b-schools, but IIM-A also managed the top spot among other IIMs followed by IIM Bangalore as No 2 and IIM Calcutta No 3. During an exclusive interview with Shiksha.com, IIM-A Director Professor Errol D'Souza shared his thoughts on how it feels to be at the top for the past few years and said, " We are happy to be recognised as a premier management Institute by the National Institute of Ranking Framework (NIRF). The ranking is an acknowledgement of the standards we have maintained in our education, research, and practice. This reinforces our commitment to excellence as we strive to maintain high standards in all our activities." Check out some more excerpts from the interview below: 

Q: IIM Ahmedabad has launched Centre for Research and Innovation. What are the other steps the b-school is planning to take towards the upliftment of R&I?

A: The recently launched Arun Duggal ESG Centre for Research and Innovation will work in the areas of environment, sustainability, and governance. Currently, we have 11 Centres of Research- Centre for Innovation Incubation & Entrepreneurship; India Gold Policy Centre; Centre for Management of Health Services; Gender Centre; Misra Centre for Financial Markets and Economy; NSE Centre for Behavioural Science in Finance, Economics and Marketing; Centre for Transportation and Logistics;  Centre for Digital Transformation; Ashank Desai Centre for Leadership and Organizational Development; Brij Disa Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence.

At IIMA, research is a priority, and we have made remarkable strides in our research productivity over the past couple of years. Our faculty produce research that is rigorous, relevant, and contemporary. Several of them present their research at international conferences and collaborate with like-minded faculty from world-class institutions. Further, they work closely with the industry on consulting projects, serve on policy formulation committees and executive boards of corporates, FIIs, NGOs, academic institutions, governments, and international agencies. The experience gives them a close understanding of the real world, which can be integrated into their research, curriculum, and teaching. This way our programmes are always current, and our students can learn from what's happening now.

Our Centres too are engaged in working on several important areas and generate research, conduct studies, surveys, conferences, build partnerships with the goal of creating and disseminating knowledge that will help industry in their respective areas.

Q: What are the changes that IIM Ahmedabad’s academic and placement strategy witnessed amid COVID-19 pandemic? 

A: This year, once again, we completed the summer placement process in virtual mode during which all the students were placed with offers across multiple sectors and industries. This year saw a significant increase in the participation of firms and the variety in job roles as compared to the previous year.  This clearly indicates that the demand for high-quality talent continues to grow and demonstrates the strength of relationships we have built with our recruiters over the decades. At IIMA, we strive to develop future leaders for enterprises and will continue to supply the industry with the country's most exceptional talent pool of future managers. With our consistent record of producing high achievers, we continued to attract regular as well as new recruiters further strengthening our recruiter pool. We are grateful to the recruiters who have participated in our placement process and have helped our students realize their career aspirations. We are confident that the exceptional talent that IIMA produces through its rigorous and contemporary coursework will provide an enriching experience and significant value to the organizations.

Q: How is IIM Ahmedabad preparing for blended learning? Is it organizing any special training programmes for faculty in terms of blended teaching?

A: IIM Ahmedabad has been doing fair-sized blended learning programmes (BLP) for executives for more than 5 years. IIMA initiated BLP on a smaller scale more than 15 years ago. Therefore, transferring some of that experience and expertise to degree programmes during the last two years was more of an extension, which was supported by special workshops and integrated knowledge sharing.

Q: Management education is going through a transformation phase what sectors are going to see a surge in demand for management graduates?

A: This year, we witnessed an increase in roles in sectors such as Management and IT Consulting, Private Equity and Venture Capital, Technology and Analytics, Pharma and Healthcare Banking and Finance, Investment Banking and Markets.

These are the sectors where we saw an increase in demand this year and we expect the trend is going to continue in the following sectors: 

• Private equity and Venture Capital
• Technology and Analytics
• Pharma and Healthcare
• Financial Technology
• Consulting

Q: Is IIM Ahmedabad planning to start a programme in Data Science, AI or ML? 

A: IIM Ahmedabad already has multiple programmes in this space. We have a blended programme on Advanced Business Analytics, which is a 16-month programme for working professionals. In this long-duration programme, we cover various aspects of data science, with modules on statistics, optimization, machine learning, big data management, data ethics, and functional analytics in business and management. There are a number of focussed courses as well that are offered through our executive education arm, like, AI/ML for Business, Leading Digital Transformation, Big Data Analytics, and a number of functional courses on analytics in the domain of HR, Marketing, Public Policy and Strategy. There are over 30 electives on these topics that are offered in our MBA curriculum both as core and elective courses. 

Additionally, in order to encourage cross-function research and collaboration in this domain, IIM Ahmedabad has set up the Brij Disa Centre for Data Science and AI. The members of the Centre engage with businesses, policymakers, students and other academic institutions in the area of data science and play multiple roles like research, consulting, and training.

The Institute has also invested significantly in a high-performance computing infrastructure that is available to the students and faculty for their computational needs.

Q: What are the new courses and programmes that IIM Ahmedabad is planning to offer in the near future? 

Recently we have started offering new electives such as Digital Marketing, Digital Strategy, Regulation in the Financial Sector During Times of Financial Crisis, Management of Bio-Pharmaceutical Industries, etc. Some of the other electives we have introduced include Health Economics; Happiness, Emotional Stability and Authentic Living, AI and Human Resource Management; Artificial Intelligence and Marketing; Privacy Paradox: Artificial Intelligence and Digital Platforms; Business, Corporate Social Responsibility and Human Rights; Gender and Work, etc.  

We are in the process of planning for other courses. 

Q: Is there any increase in the number of seat intakes or Fee hike in the upcoming admission session?    

A: Our class size has remained the same and there has been no fee hike in the past two years.  

Q: How is the institution working on improving gender diversity at campus?  

A: The number of women students joining our programmes has increased over the past few years. Currently, there are about 30 per cent of women students in the PGP, 43 per cent in FABM and 24 per cent in PGPX. The growth rate has been encouraging compared to the last decade when it was much lower.

 IIMA has produced several women alumni who have set precedents, and we hope that more women aspirants will be inspired by their success and decide to pursue management education

Q: What are IIM Ahmedabad’s plans on setting up a campus overseas?  

A: We have established an executive education programmes office in Dubai in 2019. Currently, our focus is on scaling up our programmes in that region.

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