B-Schools Should Not Be Islands of Intelligence

Here are some excerpts from an Interview published in BS Strategist with Fr E Abraham (78PMIR), and one of the previous Directors of XLRI:



Fr E Abraham, director, Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneshwar (XIMB), is convinced that B-schools should be shaped to meet the objectives of both industry and the development objectives of society at large.

“I strongly feel that every management institute should do something for the state in which it is based. We should not be islands of intelligence,” he says.

.... It seems the institute’s efforts are being noticed. Abraham is happy that the latest Cosmode-BusinessWorld survey of the best Indian B-schools ranked the institute at number 10, up five notches from last year.

Then there’s the soon-to-be-signed MoU with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for the creation of a CII-XIMB Centre of Excellence, which will give the institute some much-needed visibility.

Apart from research and consultancy in areas such as energy and power, insurance and foreign direct investment, the centre will also work on training executives from small, medium and large enterprises, as well as mentoring of entrepreneurs.

...“But it’s not just the ranking,” Abraham clarifies. “I want XIMB to be among the most reputed B-schools when it comes to intellectual capital and internal capabilities, too.”

Abraham’s efforts in this direction started early. Last year, the annual convention of the Association of Indian Management Schools and the National HRD Network Conference were held at the XIMB campus and the activities put the institute on the international map not only with academicians but also with industry stalwarts.

Celebrations apart, Abraham believes there’s more to be done. Global exposure for the institute, for instance.

...“Poor communication with the rest of the country was one of the main hurdles the institute faced initially. But in today’s world of email, web-cast and teleconferencing, the location of a management school is not an issue anymore,” Abraham clarifies.

If last year’s placement results are anything to go by, he’s probably right. The institute broke all its previous records; 51 companies visited the campus and the entire batch of 120 students for the post-graduate programme was recruited in just 30 hours. The average salary offered was Rs 4.65 lakh a year.

“We also have a prominent personality from industry visit us every week and interact with the students,” says Abraham. Add to that, in 2003 XIMB tied up with Marico Industries in 2003 whereby faculty interact with the company, researching various processes and systems.

....“We believe in an academic model and distinguish an educational institution from a consultancy firm,” Abraham says.