"e X u b e r a n c e
u n l I M i t e d"
- by Ankit Tiwari *
June the 13th, 2003, for the first time I stepped in the city
of temples, Bhubaneswar. The morning breeze though a stranger to me, welcomed me
with a cool hug. As I moved in the XIM campus, a hope and a belief crept in me -
here is a launch pad for a successful career ahead in the corporate world. The
welcome speech by the Director on the induction day was a clear indication of
the mercilessly hectic life as well as the worthy returns thereafter awaiting
me. The day marked the formation of a new committee, XIMBians 2003-05.
The tempo started building up right from the first day both
by professors and seniors, though on different platforms and at different
degrees. Unlike other B-schools, the pressure of two extra subjects was looming
large but the informal welcome by seniors did well not to let us not feel it so
early. Most of us being engineers, were finding it hard to balance the
unbalanced sheets, but our professors supported us well in maintaining
equilibrium. Only theoretical knowledge doesn't make capable managers, one need
to know how to implement theories into practice. So, this institute allows the
formation of all-student-stream-specific committees like MAXIM, XFIN, XIMAHR and
XSYS. These committees conduct seminars, talk shows, quizzes, and case study and
feedback sessions in the areas of marketing, finance, human resource and
systems, respectively. Also committees like Placement and Alumni committee
communicate with the industry and alumni for facilitating the on-campus
placement of students. The Media committee gives a face to all these events and
presents it before the aspirants and corporates. All these student bodies work
in tandem to arrange for seminars by corporate bigwigs on the contemporary
issues in business management. Within first two months of joining, the core
committees appoint shadow committees comprising of the first year students who
later on take over with the change of session.
On the educational front normally we have classes from 9.00
am to 5.15 pm but these may extend beyond regular hours. Apart from these
official timings, one needs to put in extra hours to keep abreast of the
tremendous competition. In terms of infrastructure the institute boasts of the
first-ever wired network in any B-school, the Academic Information System (AIS)
that weaves the students and professors together. The presence of 24-hr Internet
connection with the highly efficient AIS facilitates the availability of a world
of information at any and every moment. On one hand where the institute provides
all these resources, it also demands utmost sincerity in undertaking the rigor,
which tests the mettle of individuals and brings out the best. Besides
individual workloads the students need to interact frequently and work towards
achievement of group tasks allotted to them. This entire rigor ensures the
individual as well as team development.
As part of the overall development, the institute offers the
students a platform for competing at the national and international level paper
presentations, seminars, quizzes, inter-college fests and more. One of the
all-student initiatives of XIMBians is the "Xpressions" - an all-encompassing
management fest that empowers the students from various B-schools of national
repute and managers from the corporate world to compete against each other on a
level playing field - a perfect ground for proving one's grits and guts. The
high acumen events of this fest are - "Ulysses - the strategy game", "Kurukshetra
- Business Excellence Awards" and the "Skill City - the game which tests one's
softest skills". The best part is that all these events have been conceptualized
and executed by the students of XIM. The students manage the logistics,
communicate and meet the biggies for issues like sponsorships and interact with
press to give visibility to the institute. Now, all these activities instills in
the students, a greater sense of time management, mental toughness to handle
unceasing pressures and self-confidence to the brim.
Coming to the most important aspect of all, the faculty at
XIMB. We are very fortunate to have a highly erudite and richly experienced
ensemble of professors, who are well known, across the corporate world for their
consultancy work and across the educational institutes in India and abroad for
their teaching influence.
The institute also offers its students opportunities to work
with well-known organizations during the summer projects as well as throughout
their career.
The final word - a two-year investment worth making - when
you aim for returns as high as stars.
