IIM Director outlines priorities for Institute
SHILLONG: Prof Amitabha De who took over from Prof Ashok Kumar Dutta currently member of the North Eastern Council (NEC) as the second Director of the Indian Institute of Management Shillong shares his vision for the Institute with The Shillong Times in an exclusive interview.
Prof De earlier headed the National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Mumbai and joined IIM Shillong in June this year. Having spent four months at IIM Shillong and having got a grip on things here Prof De listed out his priorities for the Institute.
His first priority is to shift to the IIM complex at New Shillong and he hopes that the first batch would be able to do so my 2015. He has kept 2017 as the deadline for completion of the entire campus. “That is our identity. It is our designated home. At the moment we are in a house and there is a difference between the two,” Prof De said.
His second priority is to get the best faculty for IIM Shillong and build the capacities of the faculty and to list out the research agenda which could contribute to the over-all growth of the region. He also emphasised that capacity building of officers and staff is equally important. His third priority is to give the students of IIM Shillong a broader view of management- a view that encompasses all aspects of human life and not just the corporate prism.
Prof De says he grew up amidst Gandhian ideals and also saw the scars left by Naxalism. His father was a freedom fighter who dedicated his life to social work. In his earlier avatar Prof De had also taught at a school where children of jute mill workers of West Bengal studied. He said those were the formative years of his adult life.
“After a careful study of the situation I am of the firm opinion that money is important for our subsistence and that we cannot live on ideology alone. Social and political transformation can come about not through revolution but through evolution,” Prof De emphasised.
He is keen that IIM Shillong which is one of the two premier institutions of the North East, the other being IIT Guwahati, should be able to make their cutting edge contributions to bring about economic boosters to transform the region into an exporter and not just a consumer of goods and services.
“We at IIM need to do our own research on what ails the education system here and to see where we can suggest interventions,” Prof De stated, adding, “I do not believe (Contd in P-10)
IIM Shillong has…
(Contd from P-3) in the term human resource development to replace the word education. Education is all encompassing and includes spiritual and mental development apart from other things.”
Prof De said he had met Chief Minister, Dr Mukul Sangma and discussed a few issues with him. “We need better research into the problems and opportunities of the North Eastern region before me attempt any interventions. We also need to know what exactly is hampering development. It is my firm belief that science and commerce are as important as the humanities for all round growth and development and that science education needs to be boosted in this region,” Prof De remarked.
Prof De says that IIM Shillong is in the process of envisioning its trajectory. “We do not want to be just a management institute but want the students to take back with them humane values and to be change-makers,” he added.