Indian Institutes Of Management (IIMs) – The Temples Of Modern Management Education

IIMs or Indian Institutes of Management are the premiere centers of Management Education in India. They are highly reputed worldwide for their teaching techniques, managerial skills repository and research work on management and related areas. IIMs have been established by the Government of India to select the best intellectual talent from across the country. These talents will eventually make a pool of the elite world class managers to manage and lead various sections of Indian economy. Presently, there are seven IIMs situated in the cities of Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Bangalore, Kozhikode, Indore, Kolkata and Shillong. IIMs are completely autonomous institutes which invite no interference from the Government or other central or state agency. Each IIM is administered by a Board of Governors.

IIMs are known to be the best in the world for teaching, research and dealing with industries. They have been pioneer in creating managerial manpower development. The alumni of IIM enjoy high reputation in the world for being quality management products. IIMs offer several programs to the graduate and post graduate students. Some of the most renowned programs are PG Diploma courses in Management, which is equivalent to MBA; Fellowship Program in Management, which is equivalent to PhD; Executive MBA; Industry based programs and training programs as well as Part Time MBA for various organizations and individuals.

The admission process in to these prominent institutes is also very significant. This is done by the CAT (Common Admission Test). One CAT is conducted to select the students for all seven IIMs each year and usually in the month of November. This is one of the most competitive exams in the world. It is said to be even more selective than the entire top US Business Schools put together. As per the statistics available for the year 2007, around 2,30,000 students compete for less than 1200 general category seats. Competitiveness makes CAT a privilege to pass and a benchmark to the intellectual minds.

11th Five Year Plan of India has proposed for the set up of 7 more IIMs by the end of 2012 in different parts of the country. Government of India has approved 6 IIMs in the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Tamilnadu, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Haryana.