SWEDISH SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES NETWORK

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Visit to Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIMK),
13-14 November 2007

Web page: http://www.iimk.ac.in

The first meeting was held with Associate Professor Anjan Kumar Swain, heading the International Exchange Office at IIMK, and Dr. P. Rameshan, Professor in Strategic Management, and Chairman for the Fellow Programme in Management (FPM)

We were given a brief introduction about IIMK, set up by the Government of India in collaboration with the State Government of Kerala as the 5th Indian Institute of Management (see a list of all of the Indian IIM’s). IIMK is presently involved in the following key activities:

• Post Graduate Programme in Management, a two years programme preparing young graduates for senior positions in industry.
• Fellow Programme in Management, a full-time doctoral programme in related disciplines of Management, a programme that normally takes 4-5 years to complete.
• Management Development Programmes, short courses from three to six days specially designed for professionals already working in industry.
• Faculty Development Programmes, similar short courses aimed at faculty members working at management schools all over India.
• Interactive Distance Learning Programmes, helping practising managers all over India to join a long duration education programme to improve their competence. IIMK provides a powerful interactive onsite learning web platform for satellite based education and training, created by Hughes India, the Indian operation of Hughes Network systems, USA.
• International Exchange Programmes with some leading management institutions abroad, e g in USA and New Zeeland.
• Research by the faculty members, and regular national/international conferences and seminars held at IIMK in order to disseminate the research.

Anjan Kumar Swain and P. Rameshan.

Among the international collaboration programmes a few are with Scandinavia (and the reason for us to visit IIMK was primarily to learn more about these). Since 2004 IIMK has been involved in a Linnaeus Palme exchange programme with the Dept. of Economics at Luleå University of Technology. It was initiated by P. Nandakumar, Professor in Economics at IITK, who has a Swedish connection in that he received his doctoral degree in Economics at the University of Stockholm in 1985, and has been a research fellow/faculty member at the Institute for International Economic Studies, University of Stockholm; the National Institute of Economic Research, Stockholm; and the Södertörn University College.
Till now the exchange programme has been confined to teachers only, but on a reciprocal basis. Dr. Rameshan went to Luleå in April-May 2007, and taught in Industrial Economics. The current coordinator for the programme on the Swedish side, Dr. Olle Hage, will come to Kozhikode in December 2007.
Besides the LP exchange programme with Luleå, IIMK is also involved in collaboration with Jönköping University/Dept. of Management, International Business School. This collaboration has been going for three years and includes sending two Swedish students per year to IIMK.
The Copenhagen Business School is also currently establishing collaboration with IIMK, the CBS Director recently visited Kozhikode.

Meeting with the IIMK Director, Krishna Kumar, Professor in Strategic Management

We were also given a chance to meet Krishna Kumar (photo to the right), the Director of IIMK, and had a wide-ranging discussion on possibilities to increase collaboration with Swedish researchers and institutions. Prof. Kumar welcomes such partnership initiatives also outside the field of Management, arguing that research could not be confined only to business, since it is always embedded in a societal framework. He also stressed the need for social awareness, one important reason for IIMK incubating the so-called Centre of Excellence (more information below), the only Centre in Management studies in India that helps SC/ST candidates to sharpen their communication skills and personality development. A very sympathetic initiative, much in line with Swedish developmental policy.
He also focused on the strong need to disseminate research effectively, and IIMK’s regular research conferences are an integral part in this effort. Prof. Kumar found the prospect of applying for joint conferences through SASNET’s planning grants programme an interesting option for the future.

Meeting with representatives for Centre of Excellence,

Web page: http://www.cex.ac.in

D.D. Nampoothiri and Jaiprakash Raghaviah.

Prof. D.D. Nampoothiri, Programme Co-ordinator for Centre of Excellence.
Prof. Jaiprakash Raghaviah, Associate Programme Co-ordinator for Centre of Excellence.

Professors Nampoothiri and Raghaviah came to see us at IIMK in the evening. The Centre of Excellence (CEx) is located at another place in the city, in the KIRTADS Campus at Chevayur. The Centre was founded in 2002 with support from the State Government of Kerala, and as previously mentioned it has been incubated by the IIMK. After five years of existence, it is however currently being turned into an autonomous institution. When the process is complete, probably before the end of 2007, it will be renamed Centre for Research and Education for Social Transformation (CREST). It will be provided support by two major Indian institutions, namely the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Campus in Bangalore; and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai.
The Centre works with students from the Scheduled Castes (Dalits) and Scheduled Tribes (Adivasis), and has as its goal to bring students from marginalised communities into the mainstream society, and more specifically empower them with skills in IT and Management so that they can compete on equal terms with the privileged upper-class students that till now dominate the enrolment to the Indian institutes of management. In an article in Indian Express 28 September 2006, titled ”IIM puts Dalits, tribals on corporate fast track in Kerala”, the journalist Rajeev Pi describes the success story in Kozhikode and gives credit to Dr. A.H. Kairo, former Director of IIMK. C-Ex was, according to the article, actually the brainchild of Dr. Kairo, and he is quoted as follows:
”It’s a tragedy that no other IIM has taken up this idea. What good can IIMs do to the country if they remain institutions relevant to barely one percent of the population.”
The means to reach the desired goal is through offering training programmes of five months duration each for SC/ST candidates, so called Certificate Courses for Professional Development. Such courses have been conducted since the inception of C-Ex in 2002, and they have had a high rate of success. Most students have completed the courses and C-Ex records show that at least 35 per cent of them are already working with MNCs, national corporate firms and other organisations, while some even run their own companies. 37 per cent of them were inspired to go for higher studies.
Besides, the Centre organises short-term and weekend courses with the same aim. Prof. Nampoothiri told us that there is a high demand for their programmes. For the latest five-months certificate course 400 people sent applications, only 40 could be admitted.
C-Ex also carries out research on the Dalit and Adivasi communities in Kerala. Special attention has been given to the Wayanad District near Kozhikode, a district with a high proportion of Adivasis. In January 2006, a report titled ”Wayanad Initiative” was submitted to the Kerala Government. There should be scope for Swedish researchers with an interest in marginalised groups of India to get in touch with the Centre. Prof. Nampoothiri welcomes such initiatives for joint research projects.

Visit to IIMK the following day

The positive impressions from IIMK were further enhanced the following day as we were given a guided tour around the university. The librarian Sunita T. showed the impressive library (photo) with its collections of books and journals, where the number of e-books and e-journals available is far more than that of printed copies – 12.500 e-journals and 30.000 e-books are accessible through the university’s Intranet. 
Dr. Kulbushan Balooni, Associate Professor in Economics (photo to the left), with a special interest in forestry and water issues, met with us. Dr. Balooni has been to Sweden, both to Luleå and to Karlstad (participating in a conference), and is currently planning for a new research project together with Kristina Ek, Dept. of Economics, Luleå University, on the Pollution of the Backwaters in Kerala and the role of the Government.
Finally we met with Dr. Unnikrishnan Nair, Professor in Organisational Behaviour Area, and Chairperson for the Post Graduate Programme (MBA).

As a pleasant surprise in the Kozhikode airport lounge – on our way to Mumbai – we happened to again meet the IIM Director, Dr Krishna Kumar. And he was accompanied by a young architect, Gaurav Sanan, working for Mani Chowfla, the firm that made the architectural design for IIMK.