95 IIM students awarded degrees

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 23

The IIM Amritsar awarded MBA degrees to 95 students of its third batch (2017-19) at a convocation held on Monday evening. This is the first batch to receive MBA degrees on the recommendation of the academic council, as per the IIM Act 2017.

Until last year, the students of the institute received diplomas on the completion of their two-year post-graduation programme. The award of MBA degree will increase its recognition in the eyes of the recruiters and universities unfamiliar with the Indian education system. During the convocation, two gold medals were also awarded for scholastic and all-round performance. Ganesh Hariharan received the gold medal for scholastic performance while Ramanathan Raman was awarded the gold medal for the all-round performance.

Dr Nagesh Kumar, Director and Head of South and South-West Asia at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, was the chief guest of the convocation. Sachit Jain, Vice-Chairperson and Managing Director, Vardhman Special Steels Limited, was the guest of honour.

Prof Debashis Chatterjee, Mentor Director, IIM Amritsar, and Director, IIM Kozhikode; Prof C Raju, Nodal Professor, IIM Amritsar, and Dean Extension Programs and EPGP, IIM Kozhikode; and Prof Geetha M, PGP Chairperson, IIM Amritsar, along with other faculty members of the IIM Amritsar were also present.

Nagesh Kumar reminded the students about the colonial past of India when its GDP was less than two per cent of the world’s economy. However, growing at a fast pace, the country has caught up with its colonial master and soon may exceed the size of the UK’s GDP.

He asked the graduating students to introduce innovation in their organisations as India at present spends only 0.8 per cent of the GDP on research and development. The developed nations of the world had consistently spent around 2 per cent of their GDPs on similar activities. Therefore, India’s development would depend on its focus on R&D. Besides innovation, the leadership in the new world should focus on gender equality, human resource development and sustainable growth of the company and the country, he said.

Sachit Jain shared life lessons with the graduating students. He emphasised on spending time with their families and friends, besides committing their time to work. A significant part of his speech was dedicated to building a culture for fitness in our lives at work.

Sanjay Gupta, Chairperson of BoG of IIM Amritsar, conferred the degrees on 95 students of the batch of 2018-20.