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IIM students at their convocation in Ranchi on Monday. Picture by Hardeep Singh
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Perseverance to follow one’s dream and business pursuit with a social pledge were the success mantras for graduating students at the second convocation of Indian Institute of Management Ranchi (IIM-R) on Monday.
Tata Steel vice-chairman B. Muthuraman said in his convocation address that India was likely to emerge as a superpower within four decades but a few challenges, foremost being social inequality, stood as hurdles.
“Life is not a 100-metre race. It’s rather a marathon, so develop the stamina of a marathon runner,” he told the students.
The management pioneer, the chief guest of the event at Ranchi University’s Aryabhatta auditorium, advised them to “learn to serve and help the people”.
“We often tend to forget that society is an important stakeholder in any venture and economic equality and progress is dependent on social equality. Those who do good to the people need to be appreciated,” he added.
Muthuraman also busted the myth that marks scored in exams is a pointer to knowledge gained. He explained that an individual reaps only 30 per cent of his learning from educational institutions, gleaning the rest through traits such as decisiveness and handling of successes or failures.
“Introspection will always help you,” he told the students, adding that patience, persistence and determination were key to success.
Altogether, 125 students — 66 from the postgraduate diploma in management (PGDM) course and 59 from the part-time 18-month diploma course under postgraduate working executive programme (PGEXP) — received their diplomas on the occasion.
Earlier, R.C. Bhargava, chairman of IIM-R’s board of governors and also of Maruti Suzuki Udyog Limited, urged faculty members to always reassess the teaching methods.
He rued that IIM-R was yet to have its own campus and expected that hurdles in acquiring land for the purpose would be overcome soon after a scrapped bid to set up premises in Nagri following resistance by villagers last year.
IIM director M.J. Xavier, in his report, mentioned that MBA education in India was at the crossroads. He observed that campus recruitment had gone down by 40 per cent over the last four years, 180 B-schools had closed down in 2012 and another 180 were expected to follow suit this year.
He added that compared to 54 per cent in 2008, only 10 per cent graduates from these schools (barring the top 20 institutes) landed jobs after completing courses.
Besides toppers in both courses — PGDM and PGEXP — four others were given gold medals for emerging as best students and for best project works. The second rank-holders in the courses also bagged silver medals.
Among the notables who pursued the prized PGEXP course was state water resources department principal secretary S.K. Satpathy.
“I joined the course for the sake of it. Learning is always welcome and it never goes waste. I feel the course has been helpful and I can utilise what I have learnt here,” quipped Satpathy.
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