Indian Institute of Management Raipur conducted its 8th annual convocation on 25th April 2019. The institute graduated a total of 179 students from the 2017-19 batch and 54 students from the 2016-18 batch. In addition to this, 8 PhDs were granted at the convocation this year.
The graduating students donned their well-deserved graduating robes after two years of continuous hard work and efforts towards self-betterment. The atmosphere in the auditorium was filled with excitement as the students were ready to finally receive the fruits of their success.
The ceremony was graced by the presence of eminent personalities Dr. Ram Sewak Sharma, Chairman, Telecom Regulation Authority of India, who presided as the Chief Guest of the event, Smt. Shyamala Gopinathan, BoG, Chairperson, IIM Raipur and Prof. Bharat Bhasker, Director, IIM Raipur.
Chief Guest, Dr Ram Sewak Sharma began his convocation address by stating how proud he felt to be standing in front of the bright minds and the future of our country. He congratulated Prof. Bhasker, the faculty and the students for building this great institute. His talk inspired the students to face the uncertainties of life. “Life is uncertain and it gets difficult at times, but this is where the opportunities for greatness arise” he said. He ensured the students that all the events in life are a part of a design and what you do or learn today will definitely come to your support in the future years even without you realising it.
He enumerated wonderful incidents from his life to drive home the point of doing the things you really want to do. They may seem like whims at the point in time, but they certainly will be of great use later in life. He said, sometimes people become so utilitarian that you don’t read or see or do something because it’s not useful. Do what you love to do even if it may not seem so useful. He emphasised on the word ‘interest’ and said it is that which wakes you up in the mornings and gives you sleepless nights.
He also brought forward another management style called the ‘wood pecker’ style of management which says that you have to keep trying without giving up hope. Dr Sharma concluded his speech by advising the students to be proud of their backgrounds, be true to themselves as pretending to be someone you are not is only wasteful and useless. “Being yourself implies believing in yourself” he said. He encouraged the students to cultivate love for hard-work as there are no shortcuts to success and ended by saying that all students must be givers, only then they will be able to not only succeed but succeed by creating a better world.
Chairperson of the Board of Governors, Smt Shyamala Gopinathan began her address by expressing her compliments to Prof Bharat Bhasker on winning the Best Director award. Prof Bharat Bhasker was conferred this award earlier this year at the Indian Subcontinent Decision Sciences Institute’s 12 annual conference. Ms Gopinathan went on congratulate the students for their achievements and assured them of success in the coming years. She urged the students to serve the nation and their parents as whatever they are today it is because of them.
Earlier, in his address, Prof Bharat Bhasker, Director, IIM Raipur brought to light several accomplishments of the Institute in the Director’s report. He enumerated how IIM Raipur has achieved several milestones in a short span of just 9 years. IIM Raipur has always been an Institution not just for disseminating knowledge but also creating knowledge. The research output from the faculty community of IIM Raipur is the highest among all IIMs. The past year especially has been extremely encouraging for IIM Raipur.
The Institute has moved in smoothly to its new campus and all the academic activities are in full progress. The Institute has improved in its rankings and also seen a great improvement in its placements. The average placement package has improved from Rs 12.5 lakhs p.a. in the previous year to Rs 14.5 lakhs this year.
Addressing the graduating students, Prof. Bhasker expressed his immense pride in the students brimming with passion, knowledge and most importantly the right values to lead and carve brighter realities for the people organisations and society.
Prof. Bhasker concluded his address by thanking the students for their continuous efforts, the parents for their constant guidance and support to the students to help them successfully complete IIM Raipur’s rigorous course.
The IIM Raipur convocation ceremony also saw gold medals being given away for scholastic performance. Among the Post Graduate Programme (PGP) students, Rahi Jain received the Chairperson’s Gold Medal for scholastic performance in academics, Nandini Busireddy received the Director’s Gold Medal, Shailja Tiwary received the PGP Chairperson’s medal and Sylvester Samuel received the medal for best overall performance.
In the 2017-19 batch of IIM Raipur, of the total 207 students PGP batch, 179 students got convocated. The remaining students have gone for the Students Exchange Programme to its partner institutions in different parts of the world to complete their final term. In addition, 54 students from the 7th Batch of PGP2016-18 were convocated today as they had gone to complete their final term at partner institutions under Students Exchange Programme last year.
The batch of 2015-17 consisted of students from diverse academic backgrounds and work experience with a batch size of 207 future leaders who proved their mettle at every opportunity presented to them. More than 150 recruiters showed interest in the final placement process this year. The number of Pre-placement offers (PPOs) also improved this year, which is a testimony to the exceptional performance of the students during their Summer Internships.
Students of the outgoing batches proved themselves not only in academics, but also won several accolades in extracurricular activities. The students have proved themselves in both national and international competitions.
Over the years since inception, to strengthen its international ties, IIM Raipur has signed a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ (MOU) with some of the finest business schools in the world including, Grenoble Ecole de Management, France; IESEG School of Management, France; HLL Leipzig Graduate School of Management, Germany; AIT Bangkok, Thailand; ALBA Graduate Business School, Greece; IPADE Business School, Mexico; Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea; University of New Castle, Australia, ESC Troyes, France; Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand and University of Melbourne, Australia to name a few. These MoUs focus on student and faculty exchange programmes, collaborative research publications, organizing joint conferences and academic programmes.
During the ceremony, all the students of Post Graduate Programme (PGP) received their degrees from the Chairman Board of Governors, IIM Raipur. The students walked the aisle wearing impressive ceremonious gowns as they looked forward to starting their new journey.
The exuberance among the students of the graduating batch was a treat for the eyes. The campus was a scene of emotions, happy faces and emotional moments with farewell parties, group photos and celebrations adding to the mood. Family members exchanged notes of the success of their wards and immensely enjoyed the graduation ceremony.
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