Hand in hand

Ranchi, May 13: Indian Institute of Management (IIM)-Ranchi and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Patna are joining hands to facilitate a better learning process for their respective students.

At a meeting in Patna yesterday, IIM-Ranchi director M.J. Xavier and IIT-Patna director A.K. Bhowmick discussed possible areas of collaboration, which would be mutually beneficial.

“The areas of common interest include setting up of virtual classrooms, campus automation, joint programmes and projects for development of the entire eastern region,” Xavier, who came back to Ranchi this afternoon with Bhowmick, told The Telegraph.

Xavier, who said collaborations were more important then competition, added that latest the initiative was taken after consulting special secretary in the Union ministry of human resource development Ashok Thakur. Incidentally, the bureaucrat had praised IIM-Ranchi’s efforts at collaborating with six other new IIMs during his visit to the capital last month.

The IIM-Ranchi director said though matters are in the preliminary stage, once implemented the collaboration would benefit students of both institutes and society at large.

“We discussed launching of techno-management programmes like construction management and energy management, which would offer dual degrees. Moreover, by working together, both institutes would be able to make do with fewer teachers while benefiting more,” he added.

Sources said both the premier cradles would be connected through the national knowledge network, sharing resources and working out strategies for more future joint ventures.

Notably, IIT-Patna already has virtual classrooms in place and will help IIM-Ranchi to set up its own facilities. While IIT-Patna started operations in 2008, IIM-Ranchi started offering courses last year.

Meanwhile, the new management cradle, which started offering a two-year postgraduate programme in management from 2010 itself, is also going ahead with plans to collaborate with Jamshedpur-based XLRI.

“The boards of both institutes have decided to start student exchange programmes. While three IIM-Ranchi students would specialise in human resource management at XLRI, a few students of XLRI are expected to come to IIM-Ranchi for other management courses,” Xavier said.

In a related development, Xavier said the institute was keeping options open as far as a site to house the permanent campus was concerned. A site selection committee of the Union ministry of human resource development had come to Ranchi last month to scout for a suitable plot in Khunti.

Despite the committee expressing satisfaction with the site, a final communiqué is yet to reach the state government.