As part of its concerted efforts towards imparting world class Management Education, Indian Institute of Management Indore, launched the eighth batch of its one-year full-time Executive Post Graduate Programme in Management, EPGP, on April 18, 2016. The current batch consists of 41 highly experienced professionals from diverse industry domains.
Mr. Arvind Mahajan, Partner and National Head – Energy, Infrastructure and Government: Senior independent Director on KPMG India Board was the chief guest of the inaugural ceremony, and Mr. Sujai Sen, Head of Strategy, CSI ADM Ericsson was the guest of honor for the event.
The event commenced with lamp lighting followed by the Welcome Address by Mr. Pranav Dubey, Corporate Relation Officer at IIM Indore. He welcomed the participants and highlighted the importance of the EPGP in today’s globalized and extremely competitive industrial scenario where cutting edge managerial innovation is the need of the hour. ‘The EPGP programme provides perfect platform for grooming tomorrow’s leaders, who will drive innovation and change,’ he said.
This was followed by an address by Professor Ganesh K. Nidugala, Dean (Academic). He advised the participants to put in all the efforts to gain from this course. ‘It is up to you, how many efforts you can put in. This course would give your career a new path, a new direction to move ahead’, he noted. He also gave a brief description about the course along with various other courses at IIM Indore.
Mr. Arvind Mahajan then interacted with the participants, discussing about how this course would help them re-invent themselves not only professionally, but also as an individual. ‘Every industry is changing rapidly, be it IT, automobile, infrastructure, technology, telecom, etc. And we need to grow and gain as much as knowledge as possible, and as relevant as possible in this tremendously changing scenario. This course would help you attain your dreams. However, remember that gaining degree is just a single point in your life. But learning is life-long’, he mentioned.
Discussing about shifting from professional life to again a student life, he said that you may already have a lot of capabilities and specializations. But now you have an opportunity to achieve capabilities you didn’t had before, in the fields you didn’t imagine working in. He mentioned that this is the time when you can learn from not only the faculty, but also your classmates, who are from various fields and can help you learn a lot. Think about the future, dream about which company you would like to work in five years from now. This would give you time to plan your career in a new way.
Discussing about how Social Networking has become important in today’s scenario, Mr. Mahajan mentioned that companies now shortlist candidates on the basis of how they present themselves in front of the world in Digital Age. It depends on you, how you market yourself and your skills, how you build your relationship with your clients and how effective you are while speaking at a forum, he said. ‘Stay focused, think about something which would keep you motivated even when years pass, and find a way via which you can create an impact on the community’, he concluded.
This was followed by a brief interactive session with Mr. Sujai Sen, who mentioned the ABCD of his learning at IIM Ahmedabad as a student:
A: Always have a big picture in your mind (About your future)
B: Be open to challenges (And have the strength to face them)
C: Collaborate, Collaborate and Collaborate (With your peers)
D: Develop & nurture your relationships (with everyone around you)
The session was followed by a briefing about Library, Plagiarism and Institute’s Infrastructure facilities, which concluded with a Q&A session.
About EPGP Course:
The course is spread over five academic terms at IIM Indore campus and one international immersion term, focused at business analytics, at McCombs School of Business of the University of Texas in Austin.
The current batch has a diverse profile with an average work experience of 8.5 years and represents 10 industries: automobile, BFSI, consulting, education, FMCG/retail, infrastructure, IT, manufacturing, energy & petroleum and telecom. One fourth of the total number of EPGP candidates completed their graduation from IITs and NITs.
Candidates were selected for the programme following their short-listing for personal interview on the basis of a number of criteria like CAT /GMAT score, academic performance and work experience. During the intense one-year Program, the executives will work towards developing a deeper understanding of various facets of management and hone their managerial skills.