| MBA At IIMs is a dream come true for many aspirants. However, not many know what lies ahead and how they can fund their MBA at IIMs. In this video, understand how you can get an MBA education loan and win scholarships from IIMs to fund your MBA. You will also get information about Student Exchange programmes with international B-schools and Faculty at IIMs. As part of this initiative, Prof. RunaSarkar – Dean Academic, IIM Calcutta sharesdifferent options through which you can fund your MBA starting from MBA education loans to Scholarships offered by IIMs. She also talks about Student Exchange Programmes with international B-schools and student diversity on IIM campuses. In the end, she also talks about the faculty mix and how that translates into a rich and diversified learning experience for the students. Extracts from the Interview: Funding your MBA: Education Loans & ScholarshipsOne of the big concerns that MBA aspirants joining IIMs or Top MBA colleges in India have is about funding their management education. MBA programmes at IIMs and other premier B-schools are expensive. But the majority of top MBA colleges in India like IIM Calcutta are a brand when it comes to management education. This means, MBA students walking into these campuses will have banks willing to offer them educational loans. In fact, even during the admissions process and the first three days of the orientation, banks open their counter inside the IIM Calcutta campus offering students very attractive educational loans. Also, IIM Calcutta and even other IIMs firmly believe that if somebody has academic ability they should not be turned back because of any financial issues. This is why IIMs offer a very generous merit cum needs scholarship which it offers to any student who needs it above a particular or below a particular income threshold.In addition to this there are several other scholarships for meritorious students that the institute provides access to help students fund their MBA. Student Exchange Programmes at IIMsAs far as the student exchange programme at IIMs is concerned, IIM Calcutta has almost 25% of its students being sent out for an exchange programme in term 5 or the second year. IIM Calcutta students are required to do a complete term with a foreign university or a foreign business school of equivalent standing as IIM Calcutta. Similarly, in order to ensure that the remaining students aren’t left out, IIM Calcutta also has an incoming Exchange Programme; wherein 50 -100 students coming in from other B-schools as well to get an exposure to what the international way of life is even here. Another unique exchange programme that IIM Calcutta offers is CEMS. CEMS is an elite club of 30 premier business schools from across the world and IIM Calcutta is the only partner for CEMSfrom India. As part of the CEMS programme, students participate in the international exchange programme and at the end are they are offered a degree called Masters in Management. IIM Calcutta being the CEMS representative in India means that if you are a good enough student you also get a second degree from CEMS. So that’s yet another way trying to foster exchange and student exposure. Student DiversityThe first question that B-schools must address while talking about student diversity is by first looking at what does it mean. IIM Calcutta looks at diversity on its campus in terms of gender and academic backgrounds as well as socio-economic background of the candidate. So, when it comes to socio-economic background such as caste, the laws of the land apply and we do take care of diversity in that context.In the case of gender, and in the case of having people from different academic scheme come into the field of management we have been faced with a huge challenge every year. This is because, among the CAT test-takers there are fewer women taking CAT as compared to men and at the same time significantly fewer non-engineering students taking the CAT exam. Student diversity, both in terms of gender and academic disciplines and backgrounds, makes a huge difference in the class room both in terms of the quality of class participation as well as just basic discipline. In order to promote student diversity, IIM Calcutta has made certain changes to its admission policy and made it available in the public domain. As per this policy, additional points are given to candidates who are women and non-engineers. With this policy, IIMs are hopeful of an improvement in the student diversity in the classrooms. The policy has already exhibited demonstrable results when it comes to gender diversity on campus. IIMs are yet to see a change in terms of diversity and academic discipline but IIM Calcutta hopes that will also happen soon enough. Faculty MixIIM Calcutta has a good mix of men and women applying for faculty positions across different disciplines. During admission interviews, it is fun for interviewers to ask a candidate who they think, which discipline they think we are representing. And interestingly enough, the bias that comes from the student often is that the “softer disciplines” are represented by the women where interestingly, you find very often the exact opposite in the actual composition. So, we have a lot of diversity in terms of gender among the faculty, both in terms of gender as well as diversity in terms of the mix of faculty in terms of people across the country as well as people coming in with foreign PhDs versus PhDs within the country. |
About the Expert Prof Runa Sarkar is the Dean Academic as well as a faculty of the Economics Group at IIM Calcutta. Her educational qualifications include a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from BITS Pilani, a Master’s Degree in Environmental Engineering from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a fellowship from IIM Calcutta. On the professional front, she has worked with Tata Korf – a subsidiary of Tata Steel in the domain of environmental and energy consulting. Prior to joining IIM-Calcutta as a faculty in the Economics Group, she has taught at IIT Kanpur in its Industrial Management & Engineering Department. |
