Prof P Rameshan, the Founding Director of IIM Rohtak , has completed his 5-year tenure and retired last week. He joined the Institute on November 15, 2010, when the Institute had no faculty or regular staff, but had its first batch of PGP already launched in 2010-11 with 50 students. The Institute subsequently progressed on several fronts, to be a fully developed IIM, with several achievements commensurate with the brand name it inherited.
The PGP batch size of the Institute grew from one section to 2 sections (120+) in 2011-12 and, then, to 3 sections in 2013-14. Four PGP batches have already passed out. FPM (doctoral) programme was launched in 2013-14 and it’s currently in its third batch. Short-term MDPs commenced in 2012-13 and a 2-year Executive PGP was launched in 2015-16 on the technology platform of the well-known Hughes Communications. Plans for launching an Executive FPM are afoot.
Thanks to the good quality of students, curriculum and teaching, the Institute had an excellent Placement record during the 5 years. . The Placement as well as the learning quality was greatly facilitated by the active corporate relations programme of the Institute, whereby senior and top executives of nearly 1000 companies had visited the Institute for interaction. The Institute had achieved this through various events including summits on HR, Internet Startup and PSU issues.
Faculty size of the Institute grew from nil in 2010 to 20+ by 2014-15. IIM Rohtak was able to establish itself firmly as a centre of research in management with over 100 international publications during a short span of over 4 years. This number is more than comparable with even some of the older IIMs. To signal the good quality of its programmes and to facilitate rapid internationalization, the Institute initiated the AACSB accreditation process, with substantial progress by now.
IIM Rohtak had launched in its first year itself a remarkable social initiative through its ‘India for Girl Child’ campaign. Under this, it had initiated an annual Mini-Marathon on the tag line ‘Run for Girl Child’, with participation of 1000s every year; a Swabhav initiative for supporting the education of girl children of auto-rikshaw drivers in Rohtak, a Sparsh initiative for social support through blood donation, eye camp, etc; and live social projects on various social aspects. The social initiatives of IIM Rohtak had received wide appreciation in the region.
Prof Rameshan as Director played a pivotal role in guiding the Institute to its current state of brand identity and achievements with his relentless pursuit of progress and excellence, his unblemished record of integrity, and his unconditional dedication to the cause of society and the organization.
Prof Rameshan will return to his parent organization, IIM Kozhikode. It will mark another phase of his 18 years of association with IIMs - IIM Lucknow, Kozhikode and Rohtak.