Life @ IPMX - Updates

It's been a frenetic 6 months as the fourth batch of IPMX moves well into the 3rd term and towards the period that every B-School student waits for with anticipation- Placements.

Two terms have been completed and with the euphoria of becoming 50 % MBAs a realization also dawns that only 6 more months are left in our collective journey of reinvention. Come April the campus would be spruced up again to welcome a new set of people.

The period of July-August witnessed a number of activities held in the IIM Lucknow's noida campus from a tree plantation drive to the IPMX Senior Connect, which could not be published due to the approaching end term exams.
These updates would be posted on the blog over the next few days.

The upcoming months would witness "Udyam- The Leadership Summit" and a "Marketing Conclave"  among a series of planned events and we promise to share with you our avid reader with many more snippets from these events.

-IPMX Media Committee 

IIM-L signs MoU with Kelly School of Business

The Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, USA for extensive research and student/faculty exchange programme. Both institutes have agreed to enter into a long-term relationship for a collective pursuit of excellence in global business education. Together, the institutes will also explore the possibility of launching a dual degree programme that will be designed and developed by both institutes, and taught primarily at IIM-Lucknow's Noida campus.

In the memorandum of understanding signed between the two institutes on August 31, the management institutes have also agreed to organise combined research activities to facilitate studies at both institutes. According to the terms of the MoU, both institutes have agreed to enter into a 'long-term relationship to mutually support each other in the pursuit of excellence in global business education'. The institutes will also collaborate closely for faculty and student exchange programmes.

Director IIM-L, Dr Devi Singh, said, "As the world connects globally, research cannot be confined to geographies. In order to innovate, we have joined hands with one of USA's leading B-schools to share our expertise and learn together."

According to the MoU, the dual degree programme will be designed, developed, marketed and delivered by both institutes and will be primarily, taught at IIM Lucknow's Noida campus, where faculty from both institutes will teach. As part of the research collaboration, case studies will also be developed, which will in turn be used for teaching, designing and delivering a series of faculty research workshops.

Public relations and media relations officer, Anuradha Manjul, said, "The institutes have agreed to collaborate in three major areas: research, faculty and student exchange and developing a dual degree programme. Since both institutes follow the case study method of teaching, this will be a mutually beneficial arrangement." Apart from exchange programmes for the faculty under the MoU, the institute has also agreed to organise events like web-seminars, and video conferences.

Currently, IIM-L has already put in place faculty exchange programmes with 27 management institutes across the globe, including KSB, George Mason University and University of Connecticut's School of Business.

-- excerpted from TOI

Senior Connect: A night to remember

It was a stroll down the memory lane for the IPMX alumni who descended on the campus on 24^th July to relive their student days. Planned as an informal gathering, the senior connect event sought to link the experience of seniors with the exuberance of the present batch.

Ideally one would have picked up a Saturday evening for the event as the looming Monday morning blues takes the fun out of Sunday evenings but as luck would have it, due to a plethora of lectures and workshops on Saturday we were confined to arranging the event on a Sunday. Whoever said there is a weekend in a week for people to relax did not consider MBA Students in his sample.

Thus the event was planned for Sunday, 24^th evening. It took us about 2 weeks to prepare for the event and as the date of the event came close there was an expected buzz around the campus. Almost the entire batch was curious to see the people who had survived this 1 year and passed from the hallowed gate of IIM Lucknow.

We had planned for a music system and a DJ and few games to entertain our guests for the evening.Thus by 6 PM we were ready with the logistics, now started the biggest challenge “the wait”…



True to the Indian tradition, the stream of visitors picked pace well beyond the world standard time. Our first guest arrived at 6:35 PM. Soon more followed and by 7:20 we had more than 20 seniors with us.

At once the atmosphere was heavy with excitement; we kicked off the program with a small introduction of batch and a power point presentation of previous batches. As part of the icebreaker session we started with some small games and gave out small prizes in form of chocolates

Slowly people warmed up and Ajay from the very first batch of IPMX started sharing his experiences about his journey in IPMX.



Other seniors followed and soon the room was full of anecdotes and past experiences as the alumni relieved their journey in IPMX on choosing elective courses, methods of study.

Someone had just started suggesting the merit of studying hard and learning but then a hoot came from background: “Aren’t you the one who bunked highest number of classes?”  One thing I chose to remember that “have as much fun you can while you are at IIML”.

Then soon it was time for food and mingling, all the guys were chatting up storms in groups and every one was busy. We shut down the PA system and projectors for good and got busy with new found friends.



Very soon, seriousness of discussions gave way to some fun. In no time, people were gyrating to music on the dance floor.
It was an evening to remember. We met and saw the people who had been through this program before us and we could see our own reflections few years from now.

-Pravin Shanker

Leadership Talk Series: Mr.Rohit Bansal, Vice President, EXL Services

“If you are a person who hates mediocrity and loves challenges in life, consulting is the place for you”. This was the core message delivered by Mr. Rohit Bansal, Vice President, EXL services to the students of IPMX in his two hour session. It was a great learning experience for the students of IPMX where they learned about the nuances of Consulting industry and what it takes to touch the zenith of success in this industry.

Leadership Talk Series, Mr. Amandeep Gupta, HR and Executive Director, Dalmia Cement

AN EVENING CEMENTED IN THE MINDS



It has been a long time coming! More than a month ago, we were fortunate to play host to Mr.Amandeep Gupta, HR and Executive Director of Corporate Affairs for Dalmia Cements, and accompanying him was Mr.Anil Chakaravarthy, HR Head for Dalmia Sugar. Dalmia Cements is a relatively old company with a rich heritage for 70 years. Dalmia Cements is also one companies that  is heavily invested in R&D and in specialty cements ranks first in the country.

"Kakkar ko Takkar" : The First ever Ad war at IIML-IPMX

To give rest to the analytical neurons of the brain and to have some exercise for the creative ones, IIML IPMX Marketing club is organizing Ad contest where the participant teams have to come up with a 60 seconds video campaign on social issues. The competition will be held in two phases. In the first round, the Ads will be judged by one of IIML’s esteemed professors from marketing department.

Important Dates:

1. Registration by Monday, Aug 1^st, 2011


2. First round of judgement on Friday, Aug 5^th, 2011


3. Second round date to be declared soon

--

Marketing Club IPMX IIM Lucknow

Leadership Talk Series: Mr.Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Founder Info Edge

"Businesses are built on customer insights”

This phrase captures the essence of the seminal address given by Mr. Sanjeev Bikhchandani, founder of Info Edge and creator of successful web portals such as Naukri.Com, Shiksha.com, and Jeevansaathi.com to the students of IIM Lucknow IPMX course as part of theIPMX -Leadership Talk Series.

Throughout the close to 3 hour session, Mr. Bikhchandani enthralled the students as he shared his experiences on his entrepreneurial journey. Info Edge started as a company which performed entry level salary surveys, and moved on to build a market a database of pharmaceutical trademarks.