Alumni become part of admission panel at IIMs

Alumni become part of admission panel at IIMs


This year, at many Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs),alumni of the respective institutes were stamping the approval for the admission of new batch to the two-year post graduate programme (PGP).
For instance, at IIM Bangalore (IIM-B), over 100 alumni members were learnt to be a part of the interview panel this year for admissions.
The institute had shortlisted 1,548 candidates for interviews this year for its batch of 375 students.
However, the alumni had to have a minimum seven years of work experience, and be residents of cities where the interviews were scheduled besides having the ability to devote an entire day for the effort.


Similarly, IIM Kozhikode (IIM-K), for the first time, had its alumni members on board to conduct admissions for the batch of PGP 2010-12. The idea being that the practitioners could actually give a perspective on the industry while conducting the admissions. The alumni also fit in with the corporate culture and their quality of work experience was found to be useful in helping them choose the right candidates for the institute. Around 15 alumni were part of the interview panels to interview 1,900 students.
Institutes find this move very helpful as it helps ease the load on faculty members. On an average, admission interviews take around 100 hours of faculty time every year which may also require them to travel to interview centres in other cities. Faculty members feel that due to administration work, their teaching often takes a backseat. The initiative helps institutes bring in qualified professionals who could help ease the work pressure and also bring an academia-industry balance into the interview panel.
One of the first institutes to have alumni as part of its admissions was IIM Calcutta (IIM-C). Through their industry experience, alumni members are able to give insights on which candidates have the makings of good managers a few years down the road.
However, at IIM Ahmedabad (IIM-A), the faculty preferred to interview the aspiring candidates themselves, in spite of the huge increase in the number of candidates this year.
Meanwhile, IIM-B is yet to decide whether involvement of alumni will become a standard part of the process from next year.

Source Link: http://www.minglebox.com/article/mba/mba/Alumni-become-part-of-admission-panel-at-IIMs/data-0001-fdbffe74284d9c8a0128624677946799