The Higher Education Review

The world is well aware of the fact that the "made-in-India managers" can do wonders if they are imprinted with a right kind of education. To cite just a few well-known names- what do Sundar Pichai (Google), Indra Nooyi (formerly PepsiCo), Shantanu Narayen (Adobe) and Satya Nadella (Microsoft) have in common is an MBA degree. These people define the true meaning of leaders and managers by serving in globally renowned institutions that significantly impact the world we live in. In an attempt to give birth to a number of such leaders who are filled with an appropriate proportion of human values and managerial skills, Institute of Management Development and Research (IMDR), the oldest center for management education in Pune and a pioneer in Management Education was commenced in 1974. IMDR, however, owing to its academic excellence and an approach to offer a progressive form of management studies to the students was conferred the autonomous status in 1977.

The institute's autonomous status lets the management retain the quality of education by preparing and evolving the curriculum as per industry needs, ensuring an updated and globally accepted education. Parikshit Mahankal, Assistant Professor (Human Resource), IMDR, says, "We follow the exclusive Instruction System Design Methodology at IMDR, wherein the subjects are integrated to different disciplines to make management a mandatory field of thoughtful practice." The curriculum has been strategically designed in a manner which is meant to contribute to enlightened management practice and sustained the growth of work organizations along with helping students to emerge as thoughtful and sensitive professionals with a commitment to simultaneously contributing to the environment and the self. IMDR hosts a two-year full-time Post-Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) where students are enabled to undertake

dual specialization. The course is spread into 4 semesters, keeping the first two semesters for a robust 8 weeks internship in a business organization.

Based in Pune, IMDR's PGDM course, besides classroom learning, strongly encourages for self-study, which allows the students to work in assignments, case study sessions, field studies and so on. Students' active participation coupled with a strict adherence to the minimum 80 percent attendance norm is given high priority by the seasoned and excellent faculty members of IMDR. Mahankal proudly says, "IMDR asserts of a range of esteemed alumni who are holding high profiles at top-notch organizations. Naming a few, our alumni include Vanita Shridharan, Chief of Marketing and Retail India (Tata International), George Varghese CEO at Indian Express and Shruti Srivastava, Head Total Rewards and HR Service Excellence, who recently delivered a guest lecture at IIM-Rohtak."

"With such modern business studies practices, the institute's 'Research, Development and Publications Committee' makes it a point to boost students write research-based articles and papers and assist them"

Fostering Collective Effort
As the institute firmly believes in the philosophy of unity, each past and ongoing students share a strong bond which is facilitated by the faculty members. The students and faculty members also enjoy a very cordial relationship, where there can be witnessed the essence of openness, approachability, and warmth. "We like to be called as IMDR family as we consider integrity as the true virtue. Right from preplacement preparation to placements and bringing in visiting faculty to revising of the curriculum, all the activities going on inside the campus is greatly been looked after by the alumni," shares Mahankal. The students are housed in a well-equipped and WiFi enabled campus which is endowed with facilities such as hostels, library, Computer-Lab for training, Canteen, Language Lab for communication, Bank, an auditorium with the seating capacity of 175, tutorial room and many more.

Mahankal claims, "At IMDR, we regularly conduct off-classroom sessions, one-to-one interaction, mentoring sessions, and academic discussions. This allows us to recognize the student's strength

and weakness followed by working on the weak points." Activities related to entrepreneurship in parallel to grooming the students for placement drives is also been emphasized at IMDR, where new-age entrepreneurs are invited, business plans competitions and workshop cum industrial visits are organized. "This year 2018-19 we had organized a workshop cum industrial visit to Imaginarium, Mumbai coupled with asking students to set up stalls during Alumni Meet and Dandiya Programme," adds Mahankal. On the other side, the IMDR puts stress on nurturing team spirit & health through motivating them to participate in varied sports such as cricket, football, basketball, lawn tennis, table tennis and so on.

For introducing the learners to unmatched opportunities and giving access to a wide network, the institute has entered into number of tie-ups with major organizations such as Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce (MCC), Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), National Institute of Personnel Management (NIPM) and educational institutes of national and international repute. "Given the association with ESSCA Graduate School of Management, our students of every batch are provided with a semester program or a summer program at their campuses spread across Paris, Angers, Budapest and Shanghai," pinpoints Mahankal. With such modern business studies practices, the institute's 'Research, Development and Publications Committee' makes it a point to boost students write research-based articles and papers and assist them in presenting and publishing in research conferences and journals, respectively. Handing over the students' fruitful career routes in the form of phenomenal placement and constant support, IMDR in partnership with IBM is all set for initiating various courses in Analytics.

Parikshit Mahankal, Assistant Prof.
Associated with IMDR for 15 years, Parikshit Mahankal serves as an Assistant Professor in Human Resources Management. He has done his graduation in Science and Masters in Management from the University of Pune and currently pursuing his Ph.D. from the University of Pune. He has also written numerous articles which have been published in reputed journals. Recently he wrote an article titled Performance Management issues in IT industry: A 'checkpoint'.