IIM Udaipur Director Interview: B-school not in favor of providing UG courses; Fee hike by 7.5%

In an exclusive conversation with Shiksha.com, IIM Udaipur Director Professor Jannat Shah talked about the institute's placement strategy, challenges faced during the COVID-19 situation, changes in the admission process, fee hikes and more. 

Despite the pandemic crisis, the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Udaipur witnessed an overwhelming response from the industry's top recruiters and announced a 100 per cent record placement for its MBA Digital Enterprise Management Batch. In an exclusive conversation with Shiksha.com, IIM Udaipur Director Professor Jannat Shah talked about the institute's placement strategy, challenges faced during the COVID-19 situation, changes in the admission process, fee hikes and more. Check out the excerpts from the interview below: 

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

A: With digital driving the businesses and existing companies transforming digitally, Management Consultancy, Tech-enabled, and IT consulting companies will certainly see the surging demand for management graduates. Companies will also need enhanced alignment between the b-school curriculum and the changing industry requirements. New subjects and electives especially at the intersections of traditional management functions (viz., behavioral finance and marketing analytics) and that for different industry sectors (FinTech, Multichannel Retail Management) will see an enhanced need. However, core management skills will still remain prevalent with digital transformation being in the picture.

Q: IIM Udaipur recently offered grants to start-up ideas on climate change mitigation. What are the other collaborations and tie-ups on the card?

A: We have announced India's only student-run Impact Investment Fund (IIF) at IIMU. With the initiative and the collaborative efforts of the student clubs and committees (SCOs) of IIMU & IIMU’s incubation center, IIF has evolved to be Asia's pioneer student-led and self-sustaining impact fund supported by several industry leaders from India and abroad. We aim to positively impact 1 million+ people over the next ten years by investing in mission-oriented ventures that work on the 5 selected UN SDGs with sustainable business models.

We are developing strong linkages with global technology companies and Management Consulting firms to accelerate projects, engage knowledge transfer, and share industry-level insights to provide exposure to our students. We have also been working on collaborations with leading corporations to provide support on research and be at the forefront of knowledge creation.

Q: IIM Udaipur witnessed the best-ever placement season despite the pandemic. Can you throw some light on the strategy?

A: It is re-affirment of the talent of our students, the knowledge and practical insights they get through the robust curriculum, faculty teaching, practical lessons through projects, club activities, and internships. It is a transformational journey at IIM Udaipur. Our alumni are dynamic young professionals working in leading MNCs and making their mark in the corporate world and entrepreneurial ventures. Their exemplary performances in various domains testify to the quality of education we have been teaching at IIMU.

Q: What changes and challenges that IIM Udaipur’s academic and placement strategy witness amid the COVID-19 pandemic?

A: We had the same set of challenges as all educational institutions. From face-to-face teaching, we had to quickly adapt to online teaching and then to a hybrid model which still continues. Challenges in internships and placements were aligned to the challenges the particular industry or company faced. The internship and placement selections processes also became online.

Q: Most CAT aspirants come from engineering backgrounds; how is IIM-U working to bring diversity?

A: We value diversity in educational backgrounds. To improvise on academic diversity, we are providing a weightage of up to 2 points to academic disciplines of BDES, BPHARM/B PHARMA, BARCH, BMS (Management Studies) BA, BBA, Others, BSTAT, BSW, BPT, BM/BMUS, BCCA, 1.33 points to BS/B.Sc., and 0.67 to B.Com., respectively. 

Q: How is IIM Udaipur preparing for blended learning? Is it organizing any special training programs for faculty in blended teaching?

A: We have been developing our infrastructure and seizing technology to deliver the education comparable, if not better than face-face learning. We have been organizing training programs for our faculty on online teaching. We even changed the curriculum to suit this format – case study, evaluation techniques, student participation, and knowledge assimilation were all re-assessed for better fitments. Our two classrooms have been fully developed with a complete hybrid set-up as required. We have invested decisively in strengthening our infrastructure with our existing connectivity. We have started revamping five more classrooms to prepare them from a hybrid technology perspective. We have also been taking feedback from our students to handle blended learning efficiently. We wish things go back to normal because face-to-face learning will always be the dominant mode of teaching for a premier management institute like ours. Since the characteristics of classroom and online teaching are different, the learner, the content, expected learning outcomes, and the teaching-learning context (and infrastructural capabilities) all weigh in when choices are to be made.

Q: Is IIM Udaipur planning to start the Data Science, AI, or ML program?

A: The pedagogy of the various programs at IIM Udaipur provides a thorough grounding in management fundamentals. All our programs offer courses on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital enterprises. We think these topics are important. We initially piloted these with our one-year MBA program in Digital Enterprise Management and eventually, we have introduced all the digital-related courses as a part of the curriculum of our flagship two-year MBA program.

Q: What are the new courses and programs that IIM Udaipur plans to offer shortly?

A: We have four-degree programs under our banner, viz. our flagship two-year MBA, one-year MBA in Global Supply Chain Management (GSCM) and Digital Enterprise Management (DEM), and a PhD program. The DEM Program is the only one of its kind in India and the GSCM program is the only 1-year full-time one offered by an IIM in the domain of supply chain management. A few IIMs offer undergraduate programs in management. However, IIMU is currently not in favor of providing any undergraduate education. Instead, we have recently started our Post-Graduate Diploma Program in Business Administration for Working Executives (PGDBA-WE) in an online mode with weekend classes and two 1-week on-campus modules. This is a unique opportunity for the employees of the organization to skill themselves and earn a prestigious diploma in management, without taking a career break. Moreover, Digital Analytics and Consumer Behavior will be our focal point for the next decade. We are, again, the only B School in India to have a Consumer Culture Lab. We have also been doing continuous improvement within our existing programs by including contemporary subject matter topics in our curriculum.

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

A: We are offering admissions to our 12th MBA Batch (2022-24). The batch size is likely to be around 335. The fee for the flagship program is INR 20 lacs with a hike of 7.5% for the upcoming session.

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

A: We are committed to improving the gender diversity at the campus. An additional 5 points weightage is for women candidates applying for the flagship two-year MBA program. Also, in FT Masters in Management Rankings 2021, we were ranked best in India on the female-faculty ratio among other FT MIM-ranked schools. Overall we have seen a gradual increase in the number of women students in all our management courses.

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