IIM-Nagpur is now a reality! It will be mentored by IIM-AMaharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis inaugurated first
The IIM is being mentored by IIM-Ahmedabad and will start with a batch of 60 students in a temporary campus in Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology.
IIM Maharashtra is the first of six IIMs proposed by the Indian government.
During the launching ceremony, Fadnavis thanked Professor (Ashish Nanda and IIM-A to agreeing to mentor IIM Nagpur. “The need of the hour is to create human resources and to do that, we need great institutions," he said, adding it was a dream come true.
Nanda, who is the director at IIM Ahmedabad, said the institute had volunteered to mentor the IIM Nagpur.
"We wanted to take the learning and wisdom from IIM Ahmedabad, and implement some of the best practices of global business schools, but also wanted IIM Nagpur to evolve in its own unique way and develop its own identity in the field of management education," Nanda told Economic Times.
Divulging details, Nanda said that along with infrastructure, course content, curriculum, and student body are also important aspects.
Reportedly, IIM Ahmedabad got Ajay Pandey, dean (programmes), to take the overall leadership for IIM Nagpur and Professors Chetan Soman and Pradyumana Khokle led the course design and offerings.
"There's a greater focus on field exposure in the programme - not just in business, but in environment, agriculture, government and social infrastructure projects - accounting for a duration of two and a half months," Khokle told ET.
In an unusual approach from MBA programmes, at the end of the first term, students will work for two weeks on field immersion on both private and government and not for profit projects.
Field immersion would count for 25% of total assessments in the new MBA programme at IIM Nagpur.
The other new IIMs will come up in Vishakhapatnam, Bodh Gaya, Sirmaur, Sambalpur and Amritsar.