The bloc interview. BIM Tiruchi: 40 years of working with close industry linkages

BIM has witnessed many changes in its forty years of journey. B-schools must respond to these changes in global business orders with an ever-evolving curriculum and pedagogy to stay contemporary. It is like running on a treadmill; the only way to remain steady is to keep running. However, what does not change is the vision and values of the institute and its governance.

The BIM Tiruchirappalli Society is governed by an independent Board of Governors (BoG) comprising leaders from industry, government and academia. Unlike other self-financed autonomous institutes, BIM BoG is not influenced by an individual or a family. Therefore, BIM could stay true to its purpose over the years. Distinguished personalities like Dhirubhai Ambani, IG Patel, V Krishnamurthy and S Ramadorai have been on the BoG. Today, 4,500 plus BIM alumni significantly impact industry, academia and society. Several BIM alumni work in the World Bank and Indian Administrative Services and as CXOs in Indian and global MNCs.

BIM maintains a small cohort of 120 students in each batch, ensuring intense faculty/student interaction. Each student receives personal mentoring support from three faculty members throughout their stay at BIM: a dedicated faculty mentor, a research incubation faculty member and the clubs and committee faculty member in charge. Students cherish this level of personal attention for their holistic growth. A small cohort against a large recruiter pool also ensures a wide career choice for the students.

Unlike in the West, a self-financed institute in India is usually constrained by a lack of grants or endowments which makes the creation of rapid infrastructure difficult. Providing scholarships to students and generating research output are other challenges. The main focus of BIM is to maximise the learner experience. BIM has, therefore, invested enormously in learning infrastructure, being at par with the top IIMs regarding academic delivery cost per student. We are a zero-debt institute.

We do not intend to be another IIM or play on scales. We want to be known as a boutique B-school specialising in new technology applications and sustainable development. BIM starts at a level-playing field with the IIMs in new technology applications. On that thought, we have set up several Centres of Excellences (CoE), such as the Financial Trading and Analytics Centre with 12 Bloomberg terminals — the first of its kind in Tamil Nadu; Real-Time Contextual Marketing Lab with Sales Force Social Studio; Centre for Operations Excellence; Centre for Sustainable Development; Robotic Process Automation Lab.

Students can experiment in these labs for research, do various certifications and participate in global competitions. While doing the usual MBA course, our students can also concurrently enroll in our in-house programs, like PG Certificate in ERP Technologies (SAP) and PG Certificate in Public Policy and Management, to add additional skill sets to their profile.

We have chosen a niche where our students are at par with other students from any tier-1 B-school. We seek to be the destination for new-age firms. BIM provides specialisation in finance, marketing, human relations management, operations and supply chain management and digital business and analytics. An MBA student can do a Post-Graduate Certificate in ERP (SAP) and a Post-Graduate Certificate in Public Policy and Management alongside the MBA programme. In each of the specialisations, there is a heavy accent on new age and new technology applications and sustainable development.

BIM perhaps is the only B-school that originated within a large industrial complex — BHEL Trichy. The founding Chairman, late C Subramanian, wanted to create a world-class B-school organically linked to the industry. So, industry integration runs deep into our programme architecture.

We have introduced several industry-designed and industry-delivered courses on blockchain, data science, fintech, AI/ML and RPA. Several product firms have been set up instances to train our students — like qBotica for Robotic Process Automation and o9 Solutions for Digital Supply Chain — adding to our strength of industry integration. We are in an advanced talk to start a Metaverse Lab at BIM in collaboration with a Canada-based firm. Various industry associations have recognised BIM several times for its depth of industry-institute integration.

BIM regularly witnesses 100 per cent placement with consistently rising top and average salary every year. Our recruiters include all marquee brands with growing traction with analytics, consulting and technology companies.

We are aggressively working on various international accreditations such as AACSB, SAQS and BGA (AMBA). We are due to submit our SER for AACSB by 2025-26. Globalisation is another priority for us. We are partnering with the Rennes School of Business, France, for exchange and dual degree programmes. We are in advanced talks to sign an MoU with three top B-schools in the US and the UK. We also intend to introduce more programmes, including an MBA, for working executives. We have just concluded a partnership with Anna University to offer PhD programmes in Public Policy and Management to the participants of TN CM’s Fellowship participants.

BIM’s competitive strength will be in the ecosystem it builds in coming years while remaining asset-light, having a batch size optimised for maximum learner outcome. We will be known for impactful research powered by the CoEs we have created. Many centres centers are built under asbestos roofs that sometimes leak during rains and I passionately call it a garage start-up. For instance, under asbestos roofs, Finance Lab was built way ahead of the IITs and IIMs in Tamil Nadu, investing more than a crore of rupees, something incredible given our size. I am recruiting many young faculty members from the best schools who will be more like techpreneur faculty, doing impactful research in new-age applications.