XLRI Jamshedpur: Where Healthy Competitive Spirit Takes Birth

XLRI Jamshedpur prides itself on a culture that combines warmth and friendliness with academic rigour. A strong student-teacher bond (the teacher-to-student ratio is 1:9) and a sense of belonging to a community make XLRI stand out.

"The richness of life at XLRI is something most business schools are envious of," said Roshan N. Dastur, secretary of the XLRI Alumni Association and spokesperson of the director's office. "The unique culture that has evolved over half a century springs from its closely-knit student community where relationships that last a lifetime are formed."

Despite a highly competitive spirit among students in the classroom, the atmosphere outside class is one of great comradeship, she added.

Ashutosh Shukla, a second-year business management student, agreed. "XLRI differentiates itself from other B-schools in the country by following a unique culture of promoting collective excellence, which creates an everlasting bond of friendship, trust and respect among (students who are) future managers and leaders of industry," he said.

Shukla said the college had taught him to strive for excellence and work towards achieving his ambitions but at the same time "recognise the need of a social conscience".

Pranabesh Ray, the soft-spoken dean of academics at the institute, said the XLRI ‘Social Entrepreneurship Trust' was established to encourage and support "entrepreneurship with a social cause". The ‘Village Exposure Programme' had been adopted with the objective of developing leadership and team work and "exposing students to rural India's reality", he said. The institute has adopted two villages for the next five years.

XLRI also focuses on business ethics. It was among the first B-schools in the country to introduce a core course on business ethics.

Madhukar Shukla, who has taught in the institute for more than two decades, said the stress is on students' holistic development.