IIMB PGP Inaugural and Distinguished Alumni Awards

 IIM Bangalore, my alma mater, chose three distinguished alumni for the awards. This awards ceremony was also combined with the inauguration of the 50th batch of PGP (MBA). I was among the invitees and it was wonderful listening to the achievements of the awardees in different areas- the corporate world (Abhijit), entrepreneurship (Teamlease) and Social Entrepreneurship (Samina). They were from these batches-

• Abhijit Roy, PGP 1991
• Ashok Reddy, PGP 1995
• Samina Bano PGP 2010

The Chief Guest, Rashmi Mohanty, also was an alum, and is now the CFO at SBI Cards. There were around 600 new entrants into the MBA programs lapping up every word. Some pics..

The new entrants, Batch 50 of PGP.

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The Chief Guest, above.

Gopal Mahaptra, my batchmate and now a Professor of Practice, IIMB. This was our classroom in 1982-84.

My t shirt marks  the 50th year -Golden Jubilee year of IIMB. It started in 1973.

I also tried out a set of drums before the event!

Renaming Our Educational Programs

Indian Institutes of Management in India used to have one flagship MBA program-except that it was called the PGDM, or Post Graduate Program in Management, and was a Diploma. Now, the new IIM Bill converts that potentially into a degree, along with other programs of the institute.

IIM Indore has a few other programs like the 5 year Integrated Program in Management and a Weekend PG Program for Working Execs. in Mumbai.

These will also get a new name in line with the change in the name of our flagship program.

What's in a name? A lot, actually. The Ph.D. is currently known as the Fellow Program , and will get a more easily recognisable name-the Ph.D- very soon. Makes the graduate more marketable, other things remaining constant. Same is the case with the 5 year Integrated Program in Management which may become MBA (Integrated).

A welcome change for many students.