Bhubaneswar, Jan. 13: Dressed in traditional attires of various states across the country, budding managers of the Xavier University staged a colourful show today.

The event showcased the learning of local culture, livelihood, governance and business during their 45-day village stay.

The students were divided into 27 groups and stayed at villages of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and some other states as part of their Rural Living and Learning Experience programme. Each group consisted of two to five students.

As many as 81 students had taken part in the programme between November 17 and December 31 last year.

Explaining the programme, assistant professor T. Kumar said: "The purpose behind sending them in various parts of the country is to learn and share their experience among themselves. This has been an important component and all our faculty colleagues travel to provide on-site guidance. Every group has to submit a detailed report and present it to the university. We take all care to ensure that students learn most during their stay in the villages."

The Xavier University had tied up with organisations such as Unnati, Abhiyan, Udyogini, Srijan, Parivar Vikas, SLI-Auroville, Sodhana, Farm2Food Foundation, Tambul Plates, Gram Vikas, Mrida, Agragamee, Seva Mandir and the Ajeevika Bureau for the programme.

Bipasha Ghosh, a student, who was a part of the group which had gone Ratlam district of Madhya Pradesh said the programme had been the most fascinating component of the course till date. "In fact, interacting with the villages in such close proximity made us understand how they think about certain products and what factors go in before they decide on investing in a product or facility," said Bipasha.

Puja Thakkar, who had visited Kutch in Gujarat, said: "Most of us are from cities and have little knowledge about staying and experiencing life in the villages. This experience brought us closer to people. We experienced the conditions in which the villagers live. This will help us calculate the scope of rural managers."

The event was inaugurated by the vice-chancellor of the university, Paul Fernandes.