SHILLONG, June 25: Started in 2007 with its first batch of students enrolled into the institute in 2008, the Indian Institute of Management, Shillong on its 16th year has yet again managed to get two local tribal students enrolled for the MBA batch of 2023-25.
Earlier, there was a local student from the batch 2012-14 and two others from the batch 2016-18. Altogether, 12 students from the Northeast were selected this year of which five are tribals; two from Meghalaya; two from Assam and one from Tripura.
IIM Director, Dr DP Goyal in a conversation with The Shillong Times said, “Most students think that getting into an IIM is an unattainable feat; many are deterred by the fees, but we want to dispel such negative thoughts and to reach out to students by visiting schools and colleges and interacting with them to guide them on what education in an IIM prepares them for what sort of regimen they should follow to prepare for the entrance examination. This year a record two lakh students opted for IIM Shillong but we have only 370 seats hence we had to narrow down our choices to some of the best scoring students.”
Dr Goyal further informed that IIM Shillong will assist tribal students from the home state and region who find it difficult to pay their fees. “We can work out on that and even look for scholarships. After all if they have qualified to be in an IIM they deserve to be assisted to study here,” Goyal said.
One of the subjects that IIM Shillong has stressed on is sustainability on a whole range of issues from environment to business sustainability. Dr Goyal pointed out that small efforts like rainwater harvesting could offset the water scarcity in the dry seasons.
“We are trying to network with civil societies of the 8 states and would also like to work with local traditional institutions so that we can send students to understand the pain points in rural Meghalaya and Northeast and work at finding solutions. This is called the Community Immersion programme which is a full- fledged course with three credits where students are guided and mentored by our faculty. While we want to connect with people in rural areas we also need an assurance from the villages since every student will be there 15 days. This is such a diverse region with over 150 communities and we are proud of that diversity. Even the corporate world desire graduates that can bring in that diversity,” Dr Goyal stated.
In the 15 days that students would be spending in villages, they will try to understand the culture and livelihoods and what can be done to scale up those livelihoods through better book-keeping, financial literacy etc.
“The point we also want to convey is that any student coming to IIM Shillong should never forget the state and region and should continue the relationship even as alumni. We wish to build a culture of compassion for the region and its people. Perhaps what people in the villages actually need is not more funding but to reorient their businesses in the light of modern business methods and use of technology. Our students too are not looking at first-class facilities when they visit the villages. They need to adapt and adjust so that they remain grounded,” Dr Goyal explained.
Dr Goyal said IIM Shillong can only accommodate 0.18% of IIM aspirants but these are the cream of the country and very intelligent and curious. They need to work at finding solutions. IIMs are not merely for developing business leaders but above all to address the problems faced by their countrymen.
Goyal added that students can learn sustainability by spending time to understand in what sector that sustainability needs to be practised. Sustainability is not just talking but doing and our students always look for outcomes and how many lives they can change.
For instance, the students can engage with the problems of power generation, the Shillong traffic and use their resources to help find better alternatives.
IIM Shillong is ready to adopt villages if they accept its students and it can gain the trust of the Dorbar Shnong and people of those villages. Recently, we trained some Deputy Commissioners of Arunachal Pradesh and some of their NGOs too, Dr Goyal said.
Stating that it is true that students spend only two years at the IIM and would then join the corporate world, the IIM Shillong Director said that the connection is deeper for most students and they will be mentoring the new batch of students to keep the relationship with Meghalaya and the Northeast alive.
In recent times, IIM Shillong has made a name for itself by securing the highest average package offered during PGP placement which stood at Rs 71.30 lakh per annum (LPA) and 29.96 LPA respectively. As many as 85 Preferred Provider Organisation (PPO) and 63 companies visited the Institute. Earlier, the highest and average package offered during IIM Shillong PGPEx placements 2022 stood at Rs 32.20 LPA and Rs 21.71 LPA, respectively.
IIM has many models which can be discussed with stakeholders. The people of different states should pose the problems so that the Institute can understand the problems of stakeholders and only then work at solutions
Pointing to the huge tourism potential of Meghalaya, Dr Goyal said the village-level homestays must also make sure that they give tourists an experience they will treasure. It would be good if tourists can be taken to places where artisans work to produce handmade products.
The tourists would love to buy such products directly from the artisans. “Why should Meghalaya have only one cleanest village? Why can’t that model be replicated? People of Megghalaya need to sell tourist their USP such as Lakadong turmeric and other spices,” Dr Goyal asked.
The IIM Director said, “We want our students to gain from experiential learning and outcome based learning and for them to learn values of compassion and honesty as part of their training component. Students can help the rural tour promoters to prepare portals for online payment and training in accounting. Once you have portal products are visible. Projects will be monitored by our faculty – and the website/portal will be publicise through our websites. There will be blogging by students and this is the way to really promote tourism.”
This year, IIM Shillong enrolled over 50% of girl students from across India and that is because word has spread that Meghalaya is very safe for women, Dr Goyal said, adding that the faculty have interacted with the parents and they also know that their wards are in safe hands.
During his tenure, Dr Goyal has worked tirelessly to collaborate with top 20 management institutions and universities across the world for student and faculty exchange programmes. “These institutions have visited IIM Shillong. The long term goal is to make IIM Shillong the preferred destination of the world’s best institutions and students too,” Dr Goyal, an otherwise silent worker told this scribe.
