While travelling towards IMT, it is interesting to note a) the amount of advertisements of Management institutes (I counted more than 30) and b) the number of them which have the suffix IMT in them (which is, ironically more highlighted than the initial one or two letters); but yes, this is where the similarities end.
To simulate an actual organization set up, the administration of IMT Ghaziabad is handled by students through various committees, supervised by the faculty. Thus, apart from committees like the ones for marketing and finance, different ones are designed by the students keeping in mind the current needs of the students. Like one of them, Finnacle is committed to make the students understand the working of the stock market; led by Ankit Maheshwari, a second year MBA student and a chartered accountant. This committee collects funds and invests them on behalf of the contributing students. It then tracks the stock market and gives monthly updates to the investors (i.e. the students), thus explaining the working of the stock market to them. The contribution from the students is voluntary and there is no upper or lower limit on the amount of money. For those interested in understanding the depths of consulting, there is a committee called Race: Research and consulting enterprise. This is a mini consulting organization, which provides solutions to big brands like Amul, Grasim, Gold USA, Omni Pol etc for minimal or no money. Its a win-win situation for both the parties; the students learn the nitty-gritty of the process of consulting and the companies save up on the high fees the consulting firms would charge them. This trend of companies going to B-school for their various business solutions has taken on in a big way in the present recession times and intelligent B-schools have taken advantage of this to provide hands on experience to their students, apart from, of course, the summer internship work experience. Some students bag placements offers through such consulting assignments too; needless to say if only their work is good enough to catch the employers attention.
MBAs have been accused heavily of amassing large amounts of wealth (by whatever means possible) and ignoring the weaker sections of society. Probably that is the reason why the management institutes today are taking corporate social responsibility or CSR more seriously than they ever did. At IMT though, the vision of the CSR committee, MadF is not to merely help the poor and the needy, but to empower them to generate their own employment. The students teach the women of the village to earn their own livelihood, apart from that they also give them the initial capital and teach them the ways to market the products. Also, to generate funds for their CSR activities, MadF has its own grocery store, Needz which opens only after midnight to cater to the various needs of the B-schoolers, who invariably lead a nocturnal life.
IMT is inquisitive. Yes, it is one of those B-schools well known for its quizzing talent. To keep the culture alive, juniors and seniors meet up every Wednesday and indulge themselves in quizzing competitions through the IQC or the IMT Quizzing Circuit. Students are also encouraged to take part in debates, crosswords and other such literary events to bring out their softer skills. The sports festival, known as Chakravyuh tests IMTians on the field; the three day festival has all possible games being played on the campus. The winner is the team which shows consistent performance in all the games.
More Life@IMT Ghaziabad posted by students.