The Indian Institute of Management-Kozhikode (IIM-K) has created history by inducting nearly 60% women in its flagship MBA programme.
The inaugural programme for the latest inductees of its flagship Postgraduate Programme (PGP), PGP-Liberal Studies and Management (PGP-LSM), PGP-Finance (PGP-F), and Doctoral Programme in Management (PhD) was held here on (June 28) Friday. Arun Kohli, managing director and country head of India, Morgan Stanley, was the chief guest at the ceremony which was presided over by Prof. Debashis Chatterjee, Director, IIM-K.
A press release said that the IIM-K had bettered its own record among other IIMs, besides bolstering its credentials as diversity leaders among B-Schools in the country. It had first broken the glass ceiling when PGP-17 batch recorded 54% women in 2013. The year 2021 was another landmark year in terms of gender diversity as it again breached the 50% mark in admitting women students.
The new inductees comprising a total of 631 students have been admitted to IIM-K’s regular, full-time programmes: The 28th batch of PGP (497 students), fifth batch of PGP-LSM (53 students), fith batch of PGP-F (53 students) and 18th batch of DPM (Ph.D) (28 students) programmes of the institute, to make it the largest IIM-K cohort till date.
For 2024, PGP-LSM has a batch strength of 53 students with 58% female students. PGP-Fin has also registered an intake on 53 students this year. The PhD pgramme (DP) now into its 18th batch inducted 28 students comprising of 13 female students.
As a testimony to the IIM-K’s growing global reputation, 15 international students from the United States, the United Kingdom, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Qatar, Germany, and Canada joined the largest IIM-K cohort through GMAT and CAT.
This is the highest number of International students inducted into the IIM-K for its two-year full time MBA programmes.
Not to be left behind on the academic diversity front, IIM-K has registered an impressive 45% entry of non-engineers to this latest batch of the flagship programme.
For all the three full-time MBA programmes taken together, the academic diversity numbers stand at a record 49% for non-engineers making it to the three different PG programmes. Students come from diverse non-engineering background such as sciences, humanities, arts, commerce, medical science, dental science, pharmacy, law, and chartered accountancy. Around 34% of the batch comprises of fresher, and the remaining 66% come with an average work experience of two years.
Overall, the IIM-K has students from 28 States and Union Territories, with 75% students from non-metros. Maharashtra accounts for the highest number of students (79), followed by Uttar Pradesh (43), and the home State of Kerala accounts for 41 students.
While congratulating the latest cohort, Mr. Kohli recounted his impressive corporate journey from humble origins and encouraged students to never let go opportunities that were bound to come their way owing to a resurgent India making giant global strides.
Prof. Chatterjee said, “At IIM-Kozhikode, we take immense pride in being a pioneer in promoting gender diversity among Indian B-Schools. This year, we are thrilled to announce that we have yet again achieved a significant milestone, with close to 60% female students, the highest ever in our history.”
