Sambalpur: The Indian Institute of Management here is set to introduce new courses to train up students with respect to the requirement of local industries.

The institute is making efforts to improve the education quality to match up international standards.

"The progress of the Indian Institute of Management, Sambalpur, is in the right direction and satisfactory," said the director of the institute Mahadeo Jaiswal.

The institute will shortly sign an MoU with Amul for social entrepreneurship. Jaiswal said a series of discussion have been made in this direction.

He said the institute was going to introduce courses for the employees of local industries on Saturdays and Sundays to provide the best of management training.

In the past three years, the institute has justified that Sambalpur was the best location for its establishment, as various mineral-based industries are located here which help the students to acquire practical knowledge.

The institute, which is functioning on the campus of a private engineering college, will shortly shift on the campus of the Sambalpur University.

The construction of the institute building has started and within three years the institute will have its own campus.

The director of the institute said the absence of direct air services to Sambalpur was the only problem. The state government is well aware of the fact and is taking necessary steps.

The state government is providing maximum co-operation for the growth of the institute, he said.

The IIM-Sambalpur was one among the eight IIMs announced by the government of India in 2015. The course for the first batch was started on September 23, 2015.