The Development Management Institute (DMI), which was set up on the pattern of Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) in February 2014, will offer degrees to those students from its first and second batch who cleared exams at its annual convocation on Tuesday.
Four students from the first and nine students from the second batches will get their degrees at the institute's first convocation ceremony at Adhiveshan Bhavan.
The institute offers two-year full-time postgraduate programme in development management (PDM) and the thrust of the event is to impart management programmes through experimental learning.
Though the institute has less number of students against its sanctioned seats of 60, the authorities claimed all students passing out in the twin batches have been placed. Some of the companies where the students have been placed include Jeevika, Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP), Techno Serv, Friends for Women World Banking among others.
The chief guest at the convocation will be Rajni Bakshi (Gandhi Peace Fellow) and Anup Mukherji, the chairman of the board of governors at DMI.
Amit Kumar, a student of 2015-17 batch who has been placed with Aga Khan Rural Support Programme, said: "Two years in the DMI has helped in academic and personality development. Thanks to the DMI for placing me in a reputable organisation."
Amit, after completing his BBA from Patna College in 2015, had joined the DMI based on his CAT score.
"The institute helps in developing soft skills as well as the academics of an individual," he said.
Sakshi Saurabh, who has been placed with the Delhi Commission for Women, said: "My two-year stint in DMI is helping me at Delhi Commission for Women. The thrust of the commission is to take up issues related to women and at DMI we were taught how to develop an individual."
Though the institute was built on the lines of Gujarat's Irma, the institute has not been able to gain much popularity among students.
When the institute was set up in 2014, only four students had taken admission, which went up to nine the next year and in 2016 only 24 students took admission.
Institute director K.V. Raju said: "Three to five years is the gestation period of any institute. We have moved ahead from four students to 24 students. This will go up in the coming years."
The director added that the biggest drawback for DMI is it doesn't have a permanent campus. "We are running from a temporary campus at Udyog Bhavan. We have received 15 acres from the state government to set up a permanent campus at Bihta," he said.
Apart from providing two-year development management programme, the institute also trains middle- and junior-level government officials working in the field of rural and local development on how to implement government policies in a better way.
