Excelsior Correspondent
SIRMAUR, July 22: The Indian Institute of Management Sirmaur today hosted its 4th and 5th convocation ceremony in virtual mode.
Dr Naushad Forbes, Co-Chairman, Forbes Marshall was the chief guest for the occasion and he delivered the Convocation Address. Ajay S Shriram, Chairman, Board of Governors, IIM Sirmaur and Chairman & Senior Managing Director, DCM Shriram Limited and Professor Neelu Rohmetra, Director, IIM Sirmaur also graced the ceremony. The graduating students also connected virtually.
The 4th convocating MBA batch (2018-20) had 98 students who have successfully completed all requirements for the award of MBA Degree. The 5th convocating MBA batch (2019-21) consisted of 115 students. Ayush Tiwari and Soumit Mukherjee from 4th batch received Chairman’s Gold Medal. Mohammed Sameer received the Director’s Gold Medal and Geoffrey David was awarded the trophy for his all-rounder performance for 2020. Similarly, Shyamsunder from the fifth batch received Chairman’s Gold Medal. Akash Jain received the Director’s Gold Medal and Rajat Shrinet was awarded the trophy for his all-rounder performance for 2021.
Dr Naushad Forbes, in his convocation address, talked about the damages created by ‘unprecedented times’. He referred to the fall of GDP and the health & economic crisis of the country and the world and invoked the students to prepare for ‘unprecedented leadership’ to deal with these ‘unprecedented times’. “Having a degree from a premier institute like IIM is a privilege. It means one automatically has opportunities that are distinct and attractive. At the same time, you should be careful in choosing your career. One must enjoy the field of work”, he emphasized.
With the help of some examples, he sought to enlighten the students to focus on the content of the job and the people with whom one gets the chance to work with. He also referred to the growth story and governing structures of India and China and talked about its future implications. He congratulated IIM Sirmaur for launching the MBA programme in Tourism and Hospitality Management, which is very pertinent to a diverse country like India and highly relevant with a beautiful State like Himachal Pradesh. He broadly appreciated the initiatives and the relevant steps undertaken by IIM Sirmaur located in the State of Himachal Pradesh.
Ajay S Shriram, Chairman Board of Governors, in his address, talked about five important principles of leadership as caring attitude, technology experimentation, environment sensitivity, proper execution, and expectations from the execution. “The current tested times have taught these principles to us very well”, he commented. According to him, a leader must show and communicate full responsibility and display empathy and concern. “A leader must experiment and evaluate the technology and be sensitive to climate change as well. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are making its mark and virtual mode of communication can significantly improve the participation from different people,” he said.
Towards the end of his address, he congratulated Prof Neelu Rohmetra for her commitments during the last four years towards the growth of the institute under very demanding conditions of remote location which according to him is not an easy task. “Even with these unprecedented times, the academic calendar and the growth of the institute were intact under the leadership of Director, Professor Neelu Rohmetra and her team at IIM Sirmaur,” he said.
Earlier, Prof Neelu Rohmetra presented the Director’s report and highlighted the achievements and accomplishments of the Institute. She mentioned that despite all odds of the last 1.5 years, the institute has grown significantly. She also reported that the institute is maintaining near 100 percent placement record.
Prof Rohmetra reported the achievements in improvising gender diversity in 2020 and 2021. “We have 89 girl students enrolled in 2021, making it nearly 30 percent of the total enrolment who choose to join IIM Sirmaur this year in 2021”, she said. She highlighted the achievements of permanent campus development, the faculty and non-faculty recruitments made, the high quality research published by the young faculty and numerous student initiatives in CSR, sports, culture and academic areas. She mentioned about the institutional memberships like AACSB, the MoUs signed to promote collaborative research, the scholarships awarded to students and the new programmes launched.
Prof Rohmetra expressed satisfaction that the institution handled the challenging situation posed by Covd-19 very efficiently. “I wish to record that IIM Sirmaur is all set to take bigger steps in a systematic, authentic and subtle manner with collective wisdom,” she emphasized.
All the faculty, staff and students of IIM Sirmaur witnessed the award of degrees, medals and trophies in online mode. Prof Pradipta Patra, Chairperson Programmes conducted the proceedings. Dr Vikrant Kaushal was the Master of ceremonies.
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