Introduction:

It all started during second five-year plan with government of India deciding to train Indians in modern management and technological advances. Due to its initiative, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC, as it is popularly known) was set up in 1961. Followed by similar institutes at other places i.e., Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Lucknow. Various Indian Institute of Technology i.e., IITs too were set up under the same initiative.

IIMC was set up in association with Alfred P. Sloan School of Management, M.I.T. and The Ford Foundation. IIMC is considered as the pioneer in quantitative approach to management in India. Initially started at a smaller space in the middle of town, it moved to its own campus, spread over 135 acres at the outskirts of the great Indian City of Calcutta, now renamed Kolkata, in 1974. Today it can easily be claimed as one of the finest business schools in Asia. It attracts the best talent in India - a melting pot of academia, industry and research. The best and brightest young men and women pursue its academic programmes. It provides tremendous freedom to everybody to pursue his or her interest. And, it is the true reflection of its vision, i.e., to emerge as an International Center of Excellence in all facets of Management Education, rooted in Indian ethos and societal values. And after four decades, it is going strong towards the fulfillment of its mission. It is easily reflected by the corporate image it has today.

Students:

Today, IIMC has the annual intake of more than 250 students in various postgraduate and fellowship programmes. The admission procedure, believed to be the toughest in the world with application to admission ratio 350 to 1 and still rising, ensures that only best and the brightest reach here. Students from every background come here but students from engineering background easily outnumber others. Moreover every batch is a good mix of students with varying work experience as well as fresh graduates. It provides a good opportunity to them to interact and learn from each other’s experiences.

IIMC also provides opportunities to students to gain expertise and management experience with a host of opportunities, right from maintaining institute’s official website, web based internal communication network organizing online competitions and online magazines etc. Students are instrumental in organizing India’s largest business plan competition open to students as well as professionals.  This competition attracts participation from all corners of the globe. Apart from these, IIMCians also take pride in involving with social initiatives like working NGOs such as CRY, DISHA, Vikramshila etc. Student community enjoys it stay in the campus with a number of academic and fun-centric clubs and society. Students here are actively engaged in activities ranging from as distinct as bird watching to rock shows competitions. IIMC rock bands are quite famous in this part of country. The level of activities is indicated by the fact that nights here are always happening.

But academics is certainly the most important part of life here. Its students have got the “Wing of Excellence” award in the annual essay competition at the university of St. Gallens, Switzerland. In fact it had the largest contingent of 15 student at the competition this year. Its students have topped Deutsche Bank Global Training Program for two years in a row. At various business schools’ meet its performances are tremendous. And not surprisingly, it was awarded as “McKinsey Best B-school” at Confluence, annual festival at IIMA, in 2000.

Campus:

When it comes to the campus as a whole its awesome. For a first timer, it may seem to be a lakeside resort. The campus has seven lakes and thick cover of trees. It is a bird sanctuary as well. Though completely run as a government body, its infrastructure can be envious for any institution. It boasts of the largest business library in Asia content of which can be remotely accessed through LAN.

It has a separate center called “Management Center for Human Values (MCHV)” one of its kind in Asia. MCHV runs many a courses related to ethics in management and business. IIMC has been first B-School in the country to float a compulsory course for first year in Business Ethics.

Recently, IIMC got a state of art auditorium with seating capacity of 800. Lehman Brothers and Deutsche bank teams hailed the Auditorium as “The best institute’s Auditorium in the world” last year.

The campus is e-enabled i.e., every official or non-official notices, lecture notes etc. are available through the LAN. Every student, faculty and offices are linked through it. LAN connection is provided to every room through an optical-fiber network. It has a 2 Mbps dedicated line for high speed Internet access that is free for all for all 24 hours.

Academics:

Curriculum wise, no stone is left unturned to remain up to date with current developments in business. IIMC offers the largest number of elective courses, ninety to be precise, among all b-schools in the country along with twenty-one compulsory courses in postgraduate programmes. To accommodate change in Indian business scenario, it came up with a postgraduate programme in computer-aided management, only of its kind among IIMs, in 1993. “Management Development Programmes” for working executives always go on in the campus. To facilitate knowledge of current trends in business, top performers from various corporate houses visit the campus to take special programmes. Lehman Brothers conducts a part of Fixed Income Market course. Hindustan Levers Limited conducts a course on “Marketing in Practice”. Lehman Brothers, Tata Administrative Services, Anderson Consulting etc. conduct regular workshops for various courses. They also conduct various competitions like essay writing competitions, case analysis competitions, etc.

Placements:

Since the acid test for any business school is its placement record, its record speaks for itself. It has the best placement record among business schools in the country. The average offered salary is increasing over the years, both for Indian placements as well as for foreign placements. The increasing number of Indian and multi national corporate houses with placement offers and the increasing number of foreign placement offers point to its increasing recognition in business circle within and outside India.

Placements 2002 were a huge success, with a batch of over 250 students placed in the best companies of the country as well the world. The median salary figures of various fields have been:

Alumni:

An institute providing best management education for forty years should have illustrious alumni and so is the case of IIMC. IIMC boasts of the best alumni network in the country. Alumni include the best and the brightest of corporate as well as academic world. Some of the big names are:

• Mohanbir Sawhney ,a well known Academician in Kellogg Business School

• Indra Nooyi, CFO, PepsiCo

• Ajit Balakrishna, CEO, Rediff.com

• Krishna Pallepu, Professor, Harvard

• Sunil Alag, CEO, Britannia

• Ninu Khanna, CEO, Bombay Dying

• P M Murty, President, Asian Paints

For more information on the Institute, log on to http://www.iimcal.ac.in