Increase in gender and non-engineering ratio at IFMR, class of 2017-19

Chennai: The Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR), located in Sricity near Chennai, has commenced its 18th batch of post graduate program in management (and it’s first ever MBA batch with 240 student) on June 1, 2017. Out of 240 students from 21 States and 97 Cities, the percentage of Girl students increased from 30% in 2016-18 batch to 36% in the current batch without any extra preference points being offered on the basis of gender.
The inauguration of the new batch was done recently at IFMR new President Mr. Kapil Vishwanathan, as the Chief Guest who spoke about his own MBA days at Harvard Business School.
This was followed by a lively interaction with the incoming Batch. Questions ranged from Macro-economic concerns (Trump effect), to Conflict between Founders and Managers (Infy effect).

Director of IFMR Prof. (Dr) PK Biswas mentioned in his welcome address that the admission selection process was conducted across 17 cities and mentioning the achievement on the gender ratio as significant he said, “It has taken place without any quota, bonus marks or extra weightage to women candidates. It validates our belief that given fair opportunity and a secured environment with a conducive atmosphere, women will prefer the campus.”

Students with commerce back ground reflected an increase in trend. Fresh graduates made it to 55% while 45% candidates are with work experience, in the current batch.

Also present were Prof. G R Chandrasekar, PGP Chairman who proposed the vote of thanks concluding the inauguration day ceremony. The induction and orientation programme, which involved interaction with alumni, practicing managers, and faculty to get both functional and sectorial perspectives, was done on a fast track basis and regular classes commenced on Monday 12th June. The campus is already buzzing with industry focused academic activities ranging from case discussions to business dissection of annual reports.
IFMR’s new campus is spread across 40 acres in Sri City, in the Industry hub of south India, in Andhra Pradesh. Sri City is located strategically along NH 5 on the border of two industrialized states, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. With its neighbours being global giants like Kellogg’s, Cadbury, Colgate, Pepsico, Isuzu Motor, Alstom, Kobelco, Lavazza and Danieli, who have set up large manufacturing units.
Apart from conventional functional areas of management – Marketing, HR, IT & Operations, IFMR has two more specializations – BFSI & Data Science (Business Analytics).