Nagpur: On Friday when the Indian Indian of Managament at Nagpur delivered degrees to its first batch, more than half of the passouts were little worried. The students were not able to get the placements despite the fact that it is being mentored by IIM-Ahmedabad, the premier B-school of the country.
As per the news published in a local daily IIM-A director Ashish Nanda confirmed this after the convocation ceremony. “Not even half the students are placed currently. We’re trying to invite companies to the campus. The passed out students would stay in the campus for some more time for this purpose,” he said. He added he wasn’t aware of exact number of students who received appointment letters.
In all, 53 students had taken admission in the first batch of 2015-17. The IIM-N administration tried its best to keep the matter under wraps even as TOI was constantly asking them about placement record since last month. Many queries and a mail forwarded to its public relations officer (PRO) Deepak Bhatt, remained unanswered.
TOI tried to contact IIM’s placement office in-charge Vijay Phate for about a month but even he was evasive. On Friday, he said he had instructions not to disclose details of students’ placements, until all students had been.
Newly appointed director Prof LS Murty refused to talk about specific numbers. He admitted though that companies were still approaching and they were hopeful of placing all students. “In many cases, students didn’t take up the offer as jobs were not as per their expectations. Still, IIM-N is at the forefront among new IIMs in all aspects,” he told TOI.
Even on IIM-N Twitter account, there are posts about poor placements record of the new institution.
Nanda stated there was hope as a majority of their current students (2017-19) had got good opportunities in leading companies for summer placements, with one student getting a package of Rs1.6 lakh for just two months.
He clarified placing the students of a new institution was a challenging task. “IIM-N does not have alumni history who would help in recruiting current students. It’s a lesson for all of us. We are encouraging our students to become entrepreneurs rather than seek jobs.” Nanda added, “We have appointed high quality faculty while the non-teaching staff is still on contract basis.”
He declined to attribute the poor placement record to lack of industries in Vidarbha. “Ours is a national institution where students are recruited by local, national and multinational organizations,” he said.
The IIM-A director also declined to increase existing intake capacity of 60 students. “Till our campus in Mihan is ready, we can’t increase intake. It would take next three to five years for setting up full-fledged campus.
Fortunately, both Centre and state government are extending all help to us and therefore we hope things would be expedited,” he said, while adding they would continue to mentor IIM-N for as long as it wanted.
