Introduction of KIIT (Deemed University)
Kalinga School of Rural Management (KSRM) is the youngest constituent of Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), Deemed University (www.kiit.org), Bhubaneswar. About 5000 students study full time in B. Tech., MBA, MCA and M. Tech. programmes of the University which spreads over 175 acres at a prime location in Bhubaneswar. Additionally, the KIIT Society undertakes social development activities through its Center for Social Development and Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS). KISS runs a residential school which is home for 3000 tribal children drawn from the poorest of the poor sections of the society.
The Kalinga School of Rural Management (KSRM) is part of its continued development initiative to promote the interests of the rural communities. The foundation stone of the KSRM was laid by Dr. Verghese Kurien, Father of White Revolution in India, on November 20, 2006. While laying foundation stone of KSRM Dr. Kurien commented that “Having established IRMA in Anand, I also wished for long that the second Institute of Rural Management should come up in Orissa. Now, with the setting up of the Kalinga School of Rural Management, my wish is fulfilled. I am happy, the initiative of shaping the Kalinga School of Rural Management in Orissa has come from persons like Dr. Samanta, Chancellor, KIIT – an institution builder of repute in the field of education – and some faculty members who have worked in IRMA for many years. I am sure that Kalinga School of Rural Management and the professional managers that it will produce will be able to find ways to enlarge and enhance the resources available to our villagers and to improve the ways in which those resources could be converted into the goods and services that our rural people require.”
Vision & Mission of KSRM
KSRM’s vision is to strive to become a leading academic institution in India to show the path of eradicating rural backwardness. Its mission is to catalyse the process of rural development with justice and eliminate rural-urban divide in India and other countries of South Asia. KSRM will strive to achieve this mission through teaching, training, research and consulting in the field of rural management.
Foundation stone laying ceremony of Kalinga School of Rural Management (KSRM), KIIT Campus, Bhubaneswar, November 20, 2006
Rationale for the School
Our country has already completed more than half a century of planned development. Impressive economic growth has occurred particularly during the recent decade but the level of rural poverty remains high and the problem of rural-urban disparity has also got exacerbated.
In fact, existing rural institutions have not been given space to develop and transform themselves. Instead, repeated attempts have been made to undermine their relevance. This situation has been detrimental in building a conducive work environment for young professionals to step in and manage the institutions to contribute to the process of rural prosperity. Even our Prime Minister has observed that our approach so far to rural development and agriculture has been incremental and we need to go for a “paradigm shift in agrarian policy and agrarian development”.
It appears that the policies developed and the institutions and institutional mechanisms in place fail to meet the needs of the backward regions of the country particularly east and north east. Unfortunately there are not enough institutions which can provide the desired inputs for formulating enabling policies and developing adequate manpower for holistic development, particularly of rural areas in these regions.
It is in this context that the Kalinga School of Rural Management (KSRM) under the KIIT Deemed University has been conceived. The KSRM will further improve its programme over IRMA in terms of its contents and rigour. The KSRM will be the second full fledged institute in the field of rural management in the country. KSRM will also have advantage in terms of drawing faculty resources from its sister institutions under KIIT umbrella viz. School of Technology, School of Management (IBAT) and MCA.
The Building Process
The KSRM will attempt to facilitate the reorganization of the currently fragmented rural development efforts in the country by bringing together all stakeholders viz. academic institutions, government agencies, public enterprises, NGOs and private entities. The KSRM will also provide a forum where linkages among these stakeholders can be strengthened through education, training, policy proofing, research, knowledge exchange and collaboration with local, national and international levels. Further, KSRM will establish a strong tradition in research to identify and try to fill research gaps in various sub-disciplines of rural development and management. Networking and knowledge generation, dissemination and exchange will be the key to KSRM approach to address the problem of fragmentation of expertise among numerous stakeholders engaged in rural development in the country.
Academic Programmes
The two-year MBA in Rural Management will be the flag ship programme of the School. It will prepare students for managerial positions in a wide variety of institutions working for the rural areas towards professionalising their management. The programme will start from the academic year beginning July 2, 2007.
KSRM plans to start one-year Diploma in Rural Management specially targeted to train personnel in NGO sector. It is likely to be launched in the academic year 2009.
Programme Design
It has been established that the institutions working for rural communities need high level of professional competence for their success. Accordingly a well-structured two-year MBA Program in Rural Management has been designed to educate the budding rural managers for meeting the managerial requirements of these rural organisations. The proposed programme design has eliminated the shortcomings of similar programmes offered by other reputed institutes in the country in terms of focus, class room content and experiential learning.
The programme is sharply focused to serve to important development streams – agribusiness and rural development. The course load in the second year has been reduced to be replaced by more innovative opportunities for self learning, organising annual event and participation in competitive academic events all over the country. The improved programme design will enhance the efficacy of learning and permit greater creativity on the part of the students.
Selection & Admission
Any graduate / post graduate (or planning to complete by July 1, 2007) with 50% marks is eligible to apply. All eligible candidates will have to appear for a written test comprising four sections: English Comprehension, Quantitative Ability, Reasoning and Analytical Skills and Issues of Social Concern.
The test will be conducted by an independent and highly experienced agency on Sunday, February 18, 2007 at 12 test centres. These test centres are: Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Patna, Pune, Raipur and Ranchi. Candidates selected on the basis of the written test will be invited for group discussions and personal interviews with the Institute’s faculty and experts invited from other reputed institutions at Bhubaneswar, Bangalore, Greater Noida and Pune by the end of March 2007.
Programme Fee & Educational Loan
The programme is fully residential with a fee of Rs. 4.84 lakh (inclusive of boarding, lodging, books and a laptop computer) for two years. KSRM will facilitate bank loans to all students who desire to obtain educational loan through Allahabad Bank / State Bank of India / Punjab National Bank.
Placement
The Campus Placement Programme of KSRM will invite reputed organisations working for the rural sector. This will include organizations engaged in agribusiness viz. private sector firms like ITC, Reliance, Cargill including agro input companies. This category would also include private and public sector banks engaged in offering services to farmers; cooperatives engaged in marketing of agro produce viz. Amul, NAFED. The other major category will consist of developmental organizations viz. NGOs, funding agencies, NGOs promoted by corporate sectors, government and semi-government organisations. All the students admitted to the programme will get campus placement with reasonably good salaries prevailing at the time of placement. As a part of its unique design KSRM will work proactively to engage the client organizations (potential employers) in its teaching, training, research and consulting activities.
Executive Development Programme (EDP)
The EDP will be one of the high profile activities of the School. The main focus of EDPs will be to strengthen functional management skills and development competencies of the organisations working for the rural areas through need based programmes conducted both inside and outside the School. The EDPs will be used to provide opportunity to students to interact with senior managers working in variety of established organizations.
Research and Consultancy
One of the key activities of the School will be research and consultancy. In order to operationalise its research agenda KSRM will establish need driven Centres of Excellence like Agribusiness Management, NGO Management, Natural Resource Management, Rural Infrastructure, Micro-finance and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). These Centres will be the source of important inputs for academic and training programmes and for appropriate policy development considering the specific needs of rural communities.
Faculty Resources
For this ambitious initiative we have started with a team of faculty members having long years of experience in teaching, training, research and consulting concerning the rural sector. The team will be expanded to have about 20 full time faculty and 10 research associates in next two years.
Facilities
KSRM will have access to all the central facilities of the Deemed University such as 24 hour-central library, internet access, 350 bed hospital, ATM, post office, gymnasium, sports, cafeteria, etc.
Important Dates
January 27, 2007 – Last date for receipt of completed applications.
February 18, 2007 – Written Test (15.00 Hrs – 18.00 Hrs)
For further information, contact
Admissions Co-ordinatorKalinga School of Rural Management Kushabhadra Campus, KIIT Campus 5,KIIT University,Bhubaneswar – 751024, Orissa
E-mail – [email protected]
Phone/Fax – (0674) 2725742, 2725378, 9937220212 / 9937220217 (Mob.)(0674) 2725378
Website – http://www.ksrm.ac.in or www.kiit.org
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