Government to consolidate new IIMs during 12th Plan : Dr Pallam Raju

Central Government is planning to consolidate the 7 new IIMs in the 12th Five-Year Plan which would lead to better learning outcomes in higher education, said Dr MM Pallam Raju, Union Minister of Human Resource Development at the 15th Annual Convocation of Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode (IIM-K).

Dr Raju also emphasized on greater need to accelerate the linkage between industry and education and hoped for better innovation from leading institutes like IIMK.

After two years, the PGP class of 2013 saw 327 participants being awarded the Post Graduate Diploma in Management by the institute.

In addition, 2 students from the first batch of the Fellow Programme in Management (FPM) and 234 students from the third batch of the Executive Post Graduate Programme (EPGP) were also awarded the fellowship and diplomas respectively.

Dr Raju, in his address spoke of a transition from the world of ideas to a world of action. He encouraged the graduating class of 2013 to “choose risk, dare to fall greatly because only in that way you can ever achieve greatness.”

He also noted the myriad of challenges facing the country and called upon the graduating students to utilize the values imbibed in them during their stay at the institute in solving these problems.

Speaking of the challenges facing his ministry, he mentioned the focus on 3E’s- Expansion, Equity and Excellence. Further, he noted the increased emphasis on quality in all aspects of education in the 12th Five-Year Plan. He concluded with optimism that the students will keep the patriotic spirit at the forefront while taking up various roles in their professional lives and contribute to the welfare of the society at large.

Lord Meghnad Desai, Professor-Emeritus, London School of Economics, emphasized the ever-increasing opportunities for graduating students in the wake of an irreversible economic shift towards countries like India. “When you will retire, India will surely be among the top 3 countries in the world because of the hard work done by your generation. Today’s generation is the global generation and children of the new 21st century India”, he said calling upon the graduating students to seize the opportunity at hand with zeal and vigor.

Dr A C Muthiah, Chairman, Board of Governors advocated the philosophy of learning though unlearning and relearning. “IIMs are a national pride where structural infrastructure is not difficult to build, but building an intellectual structure is more of a challenge”, he further added.

Prof. Debashis Chatterjee, Director of IIMK, urged the graduating students to take the roads less traveled in order to succeed in life. Emphasizing the importance of courage and independent thinking, he stated the need for being non-uniform and beating a different drum.