By Prashant K. Nanda, IANS
Lucknow : School teachers, bank officials, IT firms and retail chain managers are making a beeline to the Indian Institute of Management-Lucknow to learn how to make business successful and in return the institute has earned a sizeable Rs.100 million during the current fiscal year.
According to the authorities, the earnings have registered over 50 percent growth during 2007-08 from nearly Rs.65 million earned from management development programmes (MDPs) in last fiscal.
“Revenues from MDPs have gone up more than three times since 2004 and stands at about Rs.100 million this year,” IIM-Lucknow Director Devi Singh told IANS.
“Our management development programmes enjoy a very good reputation in the corporate world today. We have consciously increased our involvement in public systems and social sectors, and have conducted many programmes for sectors like education and health.
“These MDPs have witnessed unprecedented increase in numbers as well as participants per programme,” Singh elaborated.
During 2007-08, the institute carried out over 90 programmes and nearly 2,600 executives participated in them. These programmes ranged from two days to five weeks. The institute recently launched a six-month programme.
These programmes differ from the long-term two-year full time MBA programmes or one-year executive programmes for which the IIMs are famous.
Corporate houses and government institutions approach them for MDPs and their executives come and study for a said duration and pay the fee.
“It helps executives and government officials to think differently. If we need to catch up with time we have to update our knowledge and skill sets and here come the MDPs,” said Sushil Kumar, a professor, who trained a group of Navodaya School commissioners.
Programme manger of MDPs Vinod Arora said: “We are now getting international offers from corporate houses. The demand is really huge and we are trying to catch up with that.”
On Saturday, 256 students who passed out of the institute as the 22nd batch were also conferred degrees at the convocation ceremony. This year 256 IIM-Lucknow students have got 586 offers from corporate houses including 32 from outside India.