Development Office
STUDENT’S WELFARE MOVES FROM SCHOLARSHIPS TO NEW DOMAINS
Mr Ajit Motwani (Head, Development Office)
Harvard steps take the alums through memory lane. No alumni reunion is complete without a group photograph at the Harvard Steps.
Dorm memories are also among the most cherished part of Students’ stay on campus. Every reunion, alums revisit their dorms to relive the golden era. Over the decades, students’ journey from the Dorms near Harvard Steps to new high rise accommodation being built has seen a gradual cultural transition – from buddies next door to digital friendships.
The number and diversity of students on the campus have also gone through a sea change. The batch size of PGP students has grown from two digits in the 1960s to over 400.
The number of male engineers who came with prior hostel experience handling stress levels of a professional institution too has come down significantly from over 90% to under 70%. The recent batches have a sizeable number of day scholars at UG level who are from commerce/humanities & social sciences background. The percentage of women has also gone up from under 5% to about 30%. Relatively newer programme PGPX now boasts of about 140 student strength which adds to vast cultural diversity on campus, especially owing to their past work experience in different geographical locations.
Student welfare on campus has been a priority since the establishment. This has always been meticulously planned and necessary measures keenly debated among the key stakeholders to make the process seamless.
Recently, alumni batch of PGP 2008 came forward to support two unique initiatives for students in the memory of their beloved batch-mate Vivek Gupta. The counseling service on campus is one such initiative that hopes to partly fill the vacuum experienced by the digital generation as well as address the diversity issues. This Service, being launched very soon with the 2008 batch funding, is a long-felt need on campus for responding sensitively to a greater diversity and the demanding academic commitments. The IIMA FPM students often go on to lead the management/business schools across India. The batch’s funding to facilitate their greater participation at conferences will add to widening their horizon.
Last year PGP 2007 batch’s funding support for differently-abled was another unique initiative. Supporting sports through ‘outstanding sports person of the year award’ by an Alumnus of PGP 1980 has also been well received by students with more active sports participation on campus, especially during Sangharsh – the inter IIM sports festival.
We hope to launch soon the dual degree scholarships for IIMA PGP students to study at one of the top four partner institutions (currently in Europe) through the corporate and/or alumni batch funding support.
At IIMA, we are always innovating not just in the area of teaching and research but every aspect of campus life. The importance of the students settling well and being able to achieve their optimal learning potential cannot be overemphasized. Harvard steps represent the journey and growth of the Institute with students/alums.
Memories of Harvard Steps are etched in the minds of several generations of WIMWIANS; not even dignitaries leave IIMA campus without walking through the Harvard Steps!