Shillong, April 5: The Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management (RGIIM), Shillong, the only management school in the Northeast, has grown over the years, thanks to its quality initiative.

Since its first convocation in 2010 for the batch of 2008-2010, the institute has produced 854 graduates who got the best placements in various companies. Students from across the country enrol at the institute but few northeastern students have passed out from the institute. Of 854 students, there were only 10 to 12 from the Northeast.

Speaking to reporters after the convocation, the institute's director, Amitabha De, talked about the quality that the IIM has been able to maintain in its pursuit for excellence and the faith that the corporate world has in the institute.

"Our IIM has to compete with other institutes. We try to understand the local situation and we are responsible for the region in terms of giving support to policy making, strategic planning and effective implementation of various development schemes, especially in the potential sectors of the region such as tourism, business process outsourcing, and other logistics development, besides handloom, handicraft and horticulture," De said, referring to the Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Centre for Policy Research and Analysis set up by DoNER ministry, along with the North Eastern Council, at the institute.

De also stressed upon the need to concentrate more on research. "We have to connect RGIIM with other academic institutes within India and abroad. The institute has to have quality, and we are glad that we have attained a certain standard," he said.

On how he rated northeastern students, as far as getting admission in such a prestigious institute located in the region itself was concerned, the director said students have to perform well in the common admission test (CAT). He added that students from the Northeast might not even want to study at RGIIM if they qualify.

"Students from the region might not want to come here and might prefer admission in other IIMs of the country as they would like to go out of the region to the metros," De said.

The chairman of the institute's board of governors, Falguni Rajkumar, said, "The institute is running after quality not quantity. Our selection of students is rigid."

The institute ranked 99th in the list of the top 100 educational institutions released under the National Institutional Ranking Framework recently. It has urged the government to sanction its proposal to enhance its capacity.

By 2018, the institute is likely to shift to its 120-acre permanent campus at Umsawli, New Shillong.

Convocation: In its 8th annual convocation today, altogether 159 students of the post-graduate diploma in management programme of the batch of 2015-2017 received their certificates, including those in absentia.

In addition, 15 students of the executive post-graduate diploma in managing business in India and China programme for the 2015-16 received their diploma, in the presence of board members of the institute, parents, faculty members, officers and staff of the institute.

There were also several medal winners.

The president of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Naushad Forbes, delivered the convocation address in the presence of Dean of Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, New York, USA, Professor Soumitra Dutta and other dignitaries.

Forbes called for investments by industries in skills and in improving quality of school and college education.

"I hope you will choose to make a difference by making Indian industry more ethical, international and more technology-focused and inclusive," Forbes said.

Dutta exhorted the students to be effective leaders.

He said one has to be mindful of a harsh reality that India remains one of the poorest countries where millions still struggle for basic necessities and asked them to work towards assuring the fellow citizens of the fundamental needs for the country to develop and thrive.

De and Rajkumar also spoke at the convocation.