TIMES NEWS NETWORK MONDAY, MAY 22, 2006 12:00:11 AM
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1540896.cms
KOLKATA: XLRI Jamshedpur is contemplating setting up a second campus in south India, a move for which the management institute's board of governors has already given a go-ahead. Hyderabad figures high on the list of possible destinations.
Speaking to ET, Father N Casimir Raj, SJ, director, XLRI said, "At the moment, we are scouting for possible locations for our second campus. Once that?s decided, we will go ahead with getting the necessary approval from the AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education).
We plan to start with an initial batch of 120, comprising both BM (Business Management) and PMIR (Personal Management & Industrial Relations) students."
Meanwhile, on the issue of increasing the number of seats to minimise the impact of reservations on the general category of students, the director said that in the case of XLRI, it is simply not a viable option. The reasons being cited: lack of space as well as a shortage of faculty.
Meanwhile, on the faculty issue, the director said that despite recently hiking their salaries by 15% as well as offering a 20% differential increase based on faculty evaluation, the institute was still facing a problem attracting good talent.
"The government has said that we can increase the number of seats by 54%, which in our case, would mean about a hundred students. Our current batch strength is 180. That means we would need at least two more classrooms and a 30% increase in faculty.
We'd also need infrastructure to house the additional students, something we just don't have the space for in our Jamshedpur campus" said Father N Casimir Raj.
"Our current faculty strength is 56. If the seats were to be increased, we'd need at least 15-20 more teachers. Yes, the salary hike has brought a perceptible rise in interest but it's still not enough" said Father N Casimir Raj.
I thought I must express my views candidly and stop being politically correct. I think this new initiative (XLRI plans another new campus in the South) has an immense impact not only on the future students of these 'NEW CAMPSUES OF XLRI' and on the industry, but also on all of us XLRI Alumni who have struggled to contribute to XLRI's brand over the years - as Alumni, as Faculty, as Staff, as individual and corporate sponsors, and not the least as
ReplyDeleteRecruiters.
Perhaps this is an opportune time to boldly declare what the strategic vision document(the one developed by XLRI,BCG and others) outlays for XLRI's evolution and expansion
through new campuses, programs and initiatives. What can we - alumni and industry - expect from the pioneers of business education in India in the next 10, 20, 50 years?!
I think we at XLRI can no longer can afford to be secretive about what we do (especially since the cat is already out of the bag)- that would be bad strategy, and in the long
run counter productive; we need to be aggressive and bold and open about what we at XLRI want to do in the next 5, 10, 50 years...not keep things under wraps and 'make an
announcement' when deemed necessary! Come on, we can do better than that!
Also, it is very important for the success of the initiative that we do it right the first time in the new
century, the 21st century. More than ever before, now, there is no room for any margin of error in this ruthless day and age of technology, competition and open markets.
After all, we were the First Management Education Institution in Indian Industrial landscape...we have every right to be proud of our rich heritage and vision of our
Founder Fr Enright SJ. Then, why are we diffident about something equally epoch making as a 'New Campus' - the first in 55 or 60 years - to spread that noble XLRI vision to the rest of India?
Everyone now wants to know what will make this new campus unique and different from the rest in the crowd - ISB, IIMs, IIT B-schools, likes of Bajaj, FMS, IMI, TISS, NMIMS, SPJain Great Lakes, etc ?
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And finally that typo...was the typo at Times end or at XL end?: "...PMIR (Personal Management & Industrial Relations)". Are we getting into 'Personal' Management?
Gosh, we were excused for typos in those days, when we had to run behind Professor's admin assistants to get our term paper or project report typed and submitted in duplicate!
Well, we had only 3 PC AT computers and did not have any choice but to proof read it ourselves especially since we paid heavy cash out of our meagre pockets to get them typed. I must thank from the bottom of my heart, all those who typed for us in those days.
Sincere regards,
KNV