Seminars and Workshops at IIM Calcutta

At IIM Calcutta, management education is not merely syllabus-oriented, but the institution exposes its students to various management techniques through seminars, workshops, and course-specific projects.

Someone aptly said that real education happens outside the confines of the four walls of the classrooms. You cannot limit knowledge, especially if you are doing a management course, to the narrow scope of the syllabus. One of the top-notch management schools in India, IIM Calcutta, understands the same. Here, management education is not merely syllabus-oriented, but the institution exposes its students to various management techniques through seminars, workshops, and course-specific projects.

On one hand, they provide the students with practical exposure to their subjects beyond what a pile of books can offer. And on the other, students get real insights into their discipline through rewarding sessions by industry experts, management professionals, and academicians.

Courses-Specific Projects in IIM Calcutta

As mentioned before, education at IIM Calcutta is not confined to the narrow space set by the course syllabus. Beyond recommended readings and additional resources, compulsory course-specific live projects enable students to push their boundaries and delve deeper into the fierce and unforgiving art of management.

These live projects will enable students to link their classroom knowledge with practical exposure and use textbook theories to solve real-time problems. Students do the projects under the guidance of the alumni, faculty, industry representative, IIM Calcutta Entrepreneurship or Case Research Centres. Students work individually or in groups on various live projects in organisations like Indigo, PWC, Apollo, Wozart, Persistent, etc.

The MBA course by IIM Calcutta includes a summer project for students who have passed their first year. The weightage of this compulsory project is three credits, and students have to do it during their summer vacation, usually between semesters III and IV. Here, students shall intern with a firm and complete the required project under the supervision of its representative.

The one-year MBA (Ex) course includes live project sessions with alumni and on-campus projects with around 30 startups. The projects may be anything ranging from a live management problem to a consultancy project, a research project, or a case study. Similarly, a six-month compulsory internship is a part of the PGDBA (Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration) program jointly offered by the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), IIT Kharagpur, and IIM Calcutta.

Workshops at IIM Calcutta

IIM Calcutta organises regular conferences, seminars, and workshops to equip students to handle practical management techniques. Various speakers, including reputed academicians, business management professionals, and industry experts illuminate the students with their rich experience in the business management field through these workshops and seminars.

For instance, IIM Calcutta hosted the eleventh edition of the India Finance Conference, the annual event of the Indian Finance Association, on the 19th, 20th, and 21st of December 2022. The conference explored various key themes in the domain of finance, including asset pricing, corporate finance, financial crisis, financial management, market microstructure, analytics, insurance, etc. Some keynote speakers were Prof. Sumit Agarwal (Professor of Finance, National University of Singapore), Prof. Terrance Odean (Professor of Finance at the Haas School of Business, University of California), and Prof. SP Kothari (Professor of Accounting and Finance, Solan School of Management, MIT).

Similarly, on 5th March 2022, IIM Calcutta organised a workshop on ‘Dealing With Online and Blended Education in Modern Challenging Times’. The event included a lecture by Dr Henry A Patrinos (Practice Manager, Education, the World Bank), paper presentation sessions, expert presentations, and panel discussions. Key speakers include Mr Rajnish Kumar (Director, Digital Education, Ministry of Education, Government of India), Prof Tom Crick (Professor, Swansea University, Mrs Wilima Wadhwa (Director, ASER Centre), etc.

Moreover, on the 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 8th March 2022, IIM Calcutta organised the 9th Case Method Worksop to train students in effective case writing and tour them through the real-life managerial decision-making process. Speakers/ lecturers/ faculty include Prof. V G Narayanan (Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School), Prof. Ramendra Singh (Professor, Marketing, IIM Calcutta), Prof. Megha Sharma (Associate Professor at IIM Calcutta), etc.

Other prominent workshops/ seminars/ conferences include:

• MCHV Sustainability Conference to be held on August 2023
• 8th Research Summer School to be held on April-May 2023
• IIM Calcutta – STERN NYU Marketing Conference held on January 2022
• IIM Calcutta – STERN NYU Research Conference held on October 2021
• 8th Case Method Workshop held on September 2021

To sum up, IIM Calcutta focuses on the holistic development of its students. And such a developmental approach to pedagogy necessitates extra-academic activities that transcend the limitations of the syllabus. Through carefully-crafted compulsory internships, live projects, complimentary seminars, workshops, and conferences, IIM Calcutta helps its students hone their management skills (like case writing), develop an understanding of real-time project management issues, and make practical use of textbook theories of management.

About the Author

Adwaith PB is a fantasist. Dwelling merrily in his world of Oriental myths of giants, nymphs, and anthropomorphic dragons, his absent-mindedness always lands him in unforeseen hardships. As a deviation, he writes his heart out in the moonlight. And in the sun, he’s a student of the epics and perils of the political, contemplating its wayward laboratory– the society.

Note: The views expressed in this article are solely the author’s own and do not reflect/represent those of Shiksha.