IIM Indore welcomed the new batches of the Executive Fellow Programme in Management (EFPM – 12th Batch) and Executive Fellow Programme in Management & Governance (EFPMG – 2nd Batch) on July 04, 2022. The batches were inaugurated by Prof. Himanshu Rai, Director, IIM Indore. Lt. Gen. Devendra Pratap Pandey, Commandant – AWC, was the Chief Guest for the occasion. Prof. Abhishek Mishra, Chair – FPM; and Prof. Biswanath Swain & Prof. Ajit Phadnis, Faculty, IIM Indore, and Col. Gaurav Rathaur, Army War College, were also present.
In his inaugural address, Prof. Rai spoke about ?the significant role of a business school in nation-building and how academicians and research scholars can contribute to the same. ‘Earlier business schools focused merely on creating, advancing, and disseminating knowledge. However, with enormous learning sources available today, including the internet, we as educationists need to curate knowledge. He said that we need to practice what we preach, implement the theoretical learnings we impart to the students, and also focus on solving real-life problems. He said that IIM Indore, with its collaborations with the government and administrative bodies in the nation, has been proactive in finding solutions and contributing to strengthening the traffic in various cities, empowering women in terms of financial independence, assisting the school teachers of the state in managing time, and much more. ‘EFPM and EFPMG have been designed in line with our mission to solve the real-life issues faced by the nation. While EFPM would bring scholars from the industry, EFPMG allows the serving army officers to pursue their academic goals, and the programmes enable the research scholars to work on research that would benefit the nation as a whole, he said. It is time that we look at the data not only as information but also from the academic potential we have. He advised the new batch to find what they are passionate about and choose that topic for research because it would help them solve problems they care about. ‘Make the right choices. You may often be tempted to take a shortcut while you struggle to balance your academic pursuits and jobs. You might be able to achieve your goals, but you won’t feel content. Make sure that if you do something, you give your cent percent to it’, he concluded.
Lt. Gen. Devendra Pratap Pandey said that India today has emerged in every field in the international arena and has been able to meet future and global challenges. The Indian army has also played a significant role in strengthening the Indian defense system. Programmes like EFPM and EFPMG offered by a premier institute like IIM Indore would further help the army officers augment their knowledge and participate in the research that would benefit the Indian army. ‘There’s no age limit for learning. We have selected serving army officers through a robust selection process to be a part of these prestigious programmes offered by IIM Indore’, he said. The army officers are adept at crisis management and decision-making. These programmes would add to their managerial and leadership skills and assist them in pursuing research in the areas of their interest under the guidance of the able faculty members of IIM Indore’, he said.
Prof. Abhishek Mishra welcomed the new batch to the IIM Indore family. He briefed them about the programme, its curriculum, and the core subjects that would benefit the participants. ‘IIM Indore believes that a programme is enriched when industry practitioners bring their experience to the classrooms. EFPM and EFPMG are initiatives that would create a structure to help India navigate the drastically changing environment at a global level and emerge even more powerful in the years to come, he said.
A total of 17 participants have registered for EFPM and 6 for EFPMG (including army officers from AWC and IAS from LBSNAA).
