(Photo credit: Kunjan Detroja)

You don’t have to crack the Common Admissions Test (CAT) in order to experience the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad as a student anymore. The school is auctioning out ‘A Day at IIMA’ on Ebay, and 50 winners will be given a flavour of life at the b-school on October 8, 2011, complete with lectures, case studies, campus walks and nightlife.

Graduates or those in the final year of graduation will be able to place bids starting Rs 501 on this Ebay page from 9 am on September 27. Each day between September 27 and 30, 10 to 15 ‘A Day at IIMA’ seats will be auctioned off. The proceeds of the auction will be donated to ‘Prayaas’, a social initiative by IIMA students to teach under-privileged children in localities around the campus.

The day at IIMA will start off with an orientation programme, followed by lectures on the Case Study method, Team-building and an interactive session on current trends in economics hosted by IIM Ahmedabad professors. “The entire day will be packed with lectures, assignments and networking opportunities reflecting the rigour on campus,” said Sulabh Jain, coordinator of IIM Ahmedabad’s Golden Jubilee celebrations.

“The evening will begin with talent shows where the participants will have an opportunity to network with IIM Ahmedabad students. Thereafter they would be most welcome to join us in playing a night frisbee game which forms an essential part of IIMA’s culture,” he added. Participants will have all the day’s four meals along with the fulltime students and be made privy to some of the traditions and quirks that make up the school’s hostel culture.

The idea of offering a day at the IIMA campus evolved out of an earlier plan of holding MBA-in-a-day workshops across India’s top undergraduate colleges as part of the institute’s 50-year celebrations. “Since that idea was proving to be unfeasible, we decided to call a select few participants on the campus,” said Jain. The institute plans to continue the initiative next year and include more experiences such as hostel stay in future years.

Editor’s note: Starting today, notable press releases and routine news stories on management education would here onwards be published under the byline ‘PaGaLGuY News Service’. Special stories or analysis and opinion articles would continue to be published under an author’s name.