FAST FACTS
Location: Bhubaneswar
Director: Fr P T Joseph SJ
Approval/ Accreditation: AICTE approved, SAQS accredited
Flagship programme: PGDM
Student intake: 120
Fees (full course): Rs. 478,750
Board & lodging (two years): Rs. 29,000
Admission test: XAT
Full-time faculty: 47 (Profs; 15, Asso. Profs; 22, Asst. Profs; 9, Adjunct Profs; 3)
Faculty with industry experience (over 10 years): 7
Average placement salary: Rs 7.6 lakhs
Top recruiters: Atos Origin, Coca-Cola, Equity Master, Glenmark Pharma, ICRA
Conferences: MDG 7 (environmental sustainability meet), Kshitij (HR summit)
Student Activities: Netrutva, Xpressions (annual festival)
Web site: www.ximb.ac.in
Other programmes:
PGDM (part-time) 36 months
PGDM-Rural management 24 months Fellow Programme in Management 48 months PG Certificate Programme in Business Management (PGCBM) 12 months PG Programme in Management & Insurance (PGPMI) 12 months
We walk past the Xavier’s Square (a local landmark) and enter the XIMB campus, and notice that the institute has a unique character courtesy its focus on developmental activities. “A separate social sector campus is being opened soon at Pipli” says Fr. Joseph, Director, XIMB.
He continues, “Since we do not advertise much, the quality that XIMB has does not get manifested. For instance, the Centre for Case Research in our institute has been in existence for over four years now but not many people talk about it.” Reflecting on student intake of PGDM in the last two years, where 70 percent of the batch has minimum 2 years of work experience, he says, “Such students are more talented to do a full-time management programme.”
Having been provided land by the Orissa government, the institute stands committed to admitting 50 percent students from the state. The 2-year PGDM, spread over six terms, requires the students to slog for nearly 70 hours per week. The relative grading pattern evaluates the students’ performance after every term, based on their attendance, quizzes, assignments, fieldwork, level of class participation and term exams for every course resulting in Quality Point Index (QPI). The cumulative QPI is crucial and decides a lot about the student, for instance your eligibility to do an independent research project is subject to a minimum CQPI of 5.5.
Our interaction with faculty and students refreshes the sincerity, transparency and integrity about the institution. Apart from the regular teaching and research responsibilities, XIMB community has been proactive in many areas, as Prof. S. Peppin points out, a unique certificate course for HIV+ people that focused on developing competence. Dr. Amar Nayak, who teaches strategic management, speaks at length about the challenges in creating independent case studies that enrich the entire teaching and student community. For the students, it is the quality of faculty and learning process that matters the most in selecting a B-School. Gaurav Mundra, a final year student and ex-Infosys employee for 3 years says, “We are so privileged to have faculty like Prof. Banikanta Mishra, Dr. DV Ramana to name a few, for the rich experience they share with us.” Rahul Nishit, another student chips in: “Being a residential campus, our day actually begins at night and we do engage ourselves in cultural and social activities.” While the students are proud of the grounding they gain in social and ethical dimensions, they are concerned about the lack of corporate exposure, compared to their metro counterparts. Though, the institute realizes that it cannot be compared with some time-honoured legacy institutions on certain parameters, XIM Bhubaneswar, just 22, stands out in itscommitment to produce responsible managers with human values.