MD AMUL inaugurates IIMK Flagship Programmes; PhD batch records all time high of 53% women candidates

Kozhikode: The Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode welcomed the latest inductees of its flagship Post Graduate Programme (PGP) along with the incoming students from PGP-Liberal Studies and Management (PGP-LSM), PGP-Finance and Doctoral Programme in Management (PhD). Dr. Rupinder Singh Sodhi, Managing Director at Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (AMUL) was the Chief Guest for the e-induction ceremony, which was presided over by the Prof. Debashis Chatterjee, Director IIM Kozhikode.

The new inductees comprising of a total of 604 students have been admitted into the PGP (483 students), PGP-LSM (53 students), PGP-F (40 students) and DPM (Ph.D) (28 students) programmes of the institute. IIM Kozhikode, credited with many firsts has been at the forefront of achieving Gender Diversity and this year the PhD Batch-15, successfully achieved gender parity with female students constituting a 53.57 % of the upcoming cohort for the first time. Not far behind is the PGP-LSM 02 cohort with a 49% intake of female students. The flagship PGP course which was the first to break the glass ceilings of more than 50% female intake at any IIM, also registered a healthy representation of close to 39% female students for the PGP-25 batch.

The Chief Guest, Dr. R.S Sodhi, delivered the inaugural address to the students, faculty and IIMK community. He congratulated each student for securing admission to the very prestigious programmes at IIMK which now has come a long way in its 25 year journey to become a globally reputed Institute of excellence. Co-relating the current post-Covid scenario with the AMUL experience, he said that crisis is a ‘blessing in disguise’ and the young managers like them will gain first-hand experience in ‘Crisis Management’, as they begin their B-School journey on blended learning mode. Highlighting ‘Consistency’ as the keyword for success, he emphasized on its importance in driving the business objectives, brand communication, product placement and a human-centric HR policy in creating an ageless and efficient organization. He also invoked the young managers of tomorrow to use their knowledge, skills and education to create wealth and a voice for growth without disparity.

Welcoming the latest entrants to the fastest growing IIM, Prof.Debashis Chatterjee, shared with the students key lessons in leadership and institution building one can learn from the AMUL experience. Invoking the man behind the AMUL revolution, Dr Verghese Kurien, he elucidated how AMUL with its appetite for problem solving turned every challenge into an opportunity under his legendary leadership. Adding further on IIMK’s landmark Silver Jubilee journey, the Director credited the Institute’s success to the 3D’s – Digitisation, Diversification and Disruption. He encouraged the students to embrace uncertainty with an equal zest to learn and unlearn, to be steadfast in their approach to remove inequities and to imbibe the cooperative spirit in the journey towards creating equal opportunities in society & business.

IIMK Kozhikode which has also lead the way in upholding and encouraging academic diversity in the IIM culture has also registered nearly 41% of the incoming MBA students from a non-engineering background. The diverse batch also composes of doctors, lawyers, designers and architects among the incoming batch with close to 59% students from the engineering background. About 35% of the present cohort is from top colleges with a NIRF rank below 30 and about 17% of the incoming MBA students are from the IITs/NITs. Moreover, 12% of the students also have a professional certification such as CA/CS/ICWA/CFA/FRM.

The Institute is also be conducting a virtual orientation session for the new inductees of its flagship programmes before the commencement of the classes in the first week of July.