IIM Shillong - The New B-School on World Map

Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management (RGIIM) Shillong, the plans for setting up which were approved months back has finally invited applications for three specialized course for academic year 2008. The three courses being offered are:

-> Post Graduate Programme in Management
-> Fellow Programme in Management
-> Management Development Programmes

Whereas all the 6 IIMs running at present do not require applicants to put in separate applications for PGPM, one seeking admission to RGIIM needs to apply separately to RGIIM. People interesting in applying for RGIIM may go thru this link.

At present, all the 6 IIMs are rated among the top 10 B-Schools in India. RGIIM, with its first batch starting this year, will surely like to join the ranks soon. Being an IIM brand will surely attract a lot of applicants to RGIIM and based on the current reputation of IIMs it will not be tough for RGIIM to be among the top B-Schools in India pretty soon. But students need to be wary while applying to RGIIM. Here are some of the points I came up with that may play a key role in how RGIIM is going to come up in future:

-> Faculty : As of now there is no update on the website on what constitutes the faculty at RGIIM. For students, who are planning to take up admission to a college this is of utmost importance as faculty is what shapes their future. An adept faculty specialized in key areas like Finance, Marketing, Operations, HR is a key asset for any top notch B-School.

-> Infrastructure : As talked above for Faculty, there is no mention to what is the current Infrastructure in place. A small photograph of the institute could have helped a great deal. Even if they have the building under construction and it is not worth taking a photograph, the website can atleast have a mention of what facilities are the B-School going to offer.

-> Accessibility : A school in North-East is comparatively less accessible to corporates as compared to a B-School in any of metros or cities like Delhi, Hyderabad. We have already seen in the past how good institutes fail to attract top corporates just because they are not easily accessible. There is a need of developing Shillong as a city in terms of infrastructure available to host such a prestigious brand. Also good air connectivity to all the metros and cities like Hyderabad and B'lore should be present.

As RGIIM starts to prepare for its first batch, there should be a lot of focus on taking in the best people as students, as these students will determine the fate of this B-School, when it gets ready for final placements and various rating agencies rate it based on its placements.

For now, Best of Luck to everyone who is applying for RGIIM.