Large-scale construction work is on inside GIM’s idyllic campus. But if you look at the 200-year-old heritage building that was once a hospital, you will hardly notice any signs of revamp. GIM has preferred to retain the vintage exterior look of its structure, making it the only B-school which does not look like a B-school!
“We are acquiring 7 acres of land adjacent to the present campus which we shall use to expand hostel capacity. Then we are modernizing our existing classroom facilities and indoor infrastructure and installing wi-fi on the entire campus,” informs Prof D’Lima.
The school plans to increase its seats for the MBA-equivalent Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management (PGDBM) from the existing 120 to 240 next year. A PR agency has been contracted to enhance GIM’s image and the rather dated official website is under reconstruction.
As for faculty, the institute plans to pump up its existing full time strength of 22 professors to 25. “However, we are looking at having 40 fulltime faculty by the time we reach the 240 student intake,” reveals Prof D’Lima.
The B-school has clocked its highest ever average salary this year at Rs 5.66 lakhs.
“A good indicator of our growing acceptance is that this year our entire batch is from the first admission list. Earlier, we used to have 70 pc from the first list and 30 pc from the waiting list,” Prof D’Lima points out.
Some international tie-ups are being forged and some are on the anvil, notably with B-schools in Portugal, Germany and the USA.
More work experience, Goan quota
For its class of 2007, GIM took more students with work-experience than freshers. As many as 61 pc students had worked prior to joining GIM in 2007 as compared to 42 pc for the 2006 batch. However, much of the increase draws from an increase in the number of students with work experience less than 12 months.
After engineers, business management and natural sciences graduates make up the greatest chunk of the class.
“We wouldn’t like an entire batch of engineers. But at the same time we’ve never had to consciously create a certain batch profile, what has come to us is entirely by merit,” says professor of Business Law Sarita D’Souza.
GIM does not have a quota for Catholic applicants, although it relaxes the XAT cutoff for Goan applicants by 10 percentile. Thereafter, the Goan applicants are on a level playing field with the rest of the applicants, informs Prod D’Lima.
In the past two years, women students have formed roughly 27 pc of GIM batches.
XAT cutoffs, two PIs
According to Prof D’Souza, GIM closed the XAT cutoff at 84 percentile this year and has been roving around the same figure in recent years.
“We don’t have sectional cutoffs, though we do track the quant percentile. We also require a writeup to test the communication skills of the applicant,” she adds.
An applicant if shortlisted at the XAT stage has to undergo two personal interviews, both in a one-on-one situation.
“Most people get comfortable with a one-on-many situation. We thought it would be useful to know how the applicant copes in a one on one environment. At the same time, we get two independent judgments from two people,” reasons Prof D’Souza.
Do they test different parameters in the two interviews?
“The parameters are mutually agreed upon,” explains Marketing professor and GIM’s placement in-charge Prof Chandersen Mirchandani.
“Things like past academics are tested by one while the other looks at profile. But communication skills is something both interviewers look for,” he adds.
Faculty advisor, concept of comprehensive exam
“The good thing about GIM is that the students, faculty and employees here have a choice (to pursue what they want to) and take responsibility. You are allowed to take an initiative. There is a broad philosophy, but you are not bound and governed at GIM. We believe that people grow best in such an environment,” says Prof D’Souza.
“For example, we don’t have specializations in marketing or finance. Students are free to choose from a range of 45-50 electives,” Prof Mirchandani points out.
GIM has a ‘faculty advisor’ system to guide its students on career choices.
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Prof D’Souza explains, “Each faculty has a fixed number students allotted to him or her from each year. They are like guardians who play a facilitator role by counseling the students assigned to them. In the first 3-4 weeks of joining GIM, the students meet their faculty advisor once a week to get to know them. Then gradually we chalk out a plan to see how we can help them achieve their goals.”
As a review mechanism, each GIM student has to take a compulsory ‘comprehensive exam’ in oral format at the end of the first year.
“In the first year the student is exposed to many core courses in different areas. In order to make an informed choice he needs to be clear what he has learned in the first year. The comprehensive exam gives him that feedback in terms of a ‘satisfactory’ or ‘unsatisfactory’ result,” says Prof D’Lima.
General Management Focus, life on campus
GIM’s fees are Rs 2.5 lakhs for both years of PGDBM. According to Prof D’Lima, this is possible because the institute’s does not allow it to make a profit.
Given its proximity to Goa – India’s tourism hotspot, GIM does not offer specialized options in tourism management in its curriculum.
According to Prof D’Lima, the institute is still in its learning phase and must first learn to bite what it can chew. “We are focusing to be very good in general management. Though only because somebody is offering to donate a health chair in GIM are we thinking of a healthcare elective,” he informs.
“We are consciously trying not to be a tourism-centric B-school because tourism as such is not a very stable industry,” says Prof D’Souza.
However, Prof Mirchandani points out that GIM has its share of electives that few other B-schools offer. “Talent management and marketing representation are courses that few institutes have,” he says.
Prof D’Souza stresses on the accessible nature of faculty on GIM campus. “Students can have tea with the faculty. Most faculty members have an open door policy for several hours of the day,” she elaborates.
On the academic rigour at GIM, Prof Mirchandani says, “If there’s a three-credit course that requires 30 classroom hours, we see to it that they do an additional 90 hours of work through projects or case analysis.”
Despite the rigour, students manage to make time to experience Goa, Prof D’Souza adds.
IT sector jobs top
GIM achieved its first breakthrough in placements this year, with the 2006 batch scooping an average salary of Rs 5.66 lakhs and a highest salary of Rs 8.5 lakhs.
Prof Mirchandani agrees that there is still work to be done on the placements front.
“We’re a good quality B-school but the only thing is that applicants don’t think highly of us with respect to the placements. There has been a change in this since last year because our average salary increased,” he muses.
Most GIM graduates are taking up offers in the IT-sector, albeit in various roles.
The highest average salaries have come from consultancy roles (Rs 7.97 lakhs), followed by information function (Rs 6.63 lakhs), operations management (Rs 5.50 lakhs) and human resources (Rs 5.18 lakhs).
Not many GIM graduates go the entrepreneurial way. “That’s my biggest grouse. Many students want to be entrepreneurs at a later period but in their minds. I’d say most don’t have the guts,” he says.
The institute does not have a course on entrepreneurship although Prof D’Souza insists that entrepreneurial spirit is promoted by the GIM in its culture.