The Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Ghaziabad’s Two-Campus programme seems to be attracting more bad vibes than good. Students of IMT’s full-time Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) courses who spoke to PaGaLGuY on condition of anonymity, say that a revolt of sorts has been full-on at the campus since a week, with students protesting on the campus and refusing to attend lectures.

The reason according to the protesting students: the IMT management has been least forthcoming about information on the Two-Campus programme, be it the placement process or the admission cutoffs. After knowing that the CAT cutoff for the dual programme was as low as 40-50 percentile, students from IMT Ghaziabad’s PGDM courses feared that the their placements would suffer since their batches’ average percentile was 95 plus. More so, the students are concerned that the placements for the Two-Campus programme students will be clubbed with theirs.

After seeking information for months, as a last resort, students finally had to go on a ‘strike’ on September 30, to get the management to react.

Nearly 800 students on the campus stopped attending lectures from September 30 onwards and 400 odd assembled at the academic block as a mark of protest. The number of protestors dwindled as the days went by but according the students, the discontent remains as strong.

As of today, the students have rolled back their protest because the IMT management allegedly ‘suspended’ four students for their behaviour and ‘called up’ the parents of some others.

The IMT management completely denies the students’ claims. Dr AM Sherry, Chairperson, IMT’s Joint Admission Committee told PaGaLGuY that there were absolutely no problems at IMT Ghaziabad. “Everything is totally peaceful. Lectures are on and since a week our placements are also on.” When asked whether there were any protests by students concerning the the Two-Campus programme, Dr Sherry said that a few questions were asked, “That’s all.”

Dr Sherry even states that no student has been suspended because of anything related to the Two-Campus Programme. “There might be suspension for a day or two and teachers sometimes do that to bring the students on line and that is a teacher’s prerogative. It has nothing to do with the dual campus programme. When asked about parents of students being called, Sherry replied that it may have happened for a couple of students but in some other unrelated case. “These things happen sometimes in a management college and teachers have the right to call parents of students or suspend students for a short while,” he said.

On the placements issue, Dr Sherry said that the average CAT percentile of the Two-Campus programme students was 90 plus. “It is not as low as 40-50 percentile. All I can say is that no one from the college has been rusticated and everything is as normal as it always was,” he said.

PGDM students of course, beg to differ. A student from the second-year said that trouble began brewing in May 2010 when news about the dual program was first heard about.

“When we entered college, we were told that the seniors had been asking about it but they were not given any answers. We got the impression that the dual programme was not happening since there was no information known about it and no one was really talking about it,” said another student.

Finally, in August end, a few students sent letters to the relevant heads at IMT asking about the placement process and the cut-offs for the Two-Campus programme. “We sent a letter to union minister Kamal Nath’s son, Bakul Nath as well. But there was no response either from their side or from our faculty and heads,” disclosed another student.

Finally the regular PGDM students held a meeting on September 29 and invited various department heads of the college to attend it. “Some attended and we gave them a 7-point agenda which included a demand for holding the dual programme placements after our placements. But there was no assurance from anybody,” said a student.

The next day, one of the heads made an oral statement to the students that the issue of ‘placements would be considered’. “There was nothing in writing and no commitment on what exactly they were assuring us about,” said another student.

The same day, students ‘shunned’ lectures and protested at the academic block. Incidentally, it was the same time that the companies were visiting IMT Ghaziabad for placements.

“We made sure our protests ended before the placement companies came in so that our college did not get a bad name,” said a student.

The protests continued for a few days but still there was no response or answers from the management, students told Pagalguy.

Finally, some IMT officials came to the protesting students and drove them away from the campus and told them to attend lectures. “We did not go to our classes but went towards our rooms. That is when some of the heads followed us and randomly picked a few students and handed them letters saying that there had been suspended from college till further notice.”

“There are IMT locks on their hostel room doors of those suspended,” informed a student.

The same student also alleges that some days ago the management even called the parents of some of the students and warned them about their children ‘striking’ in college.

Seeing the action taken by the management, protesting students were forced to resume classes but are still sore over those who have been suspended. “We hope earnestly that not only are the suspended students brought back into college but our fears about placements and cut-offs are answered in a dignified fashion by the management,” said a student.

The intake for IMT Ghaziabad’s PGDM programme crossed 400 this year, while the institute has admitted another 100 for the Two-Campus programme. According to the PGDM students, a growing batch size has been affecting the quality of placements and allowing what they perceive as a low-percentile batch to have an equal opportunity as them at jobs would hurt the institute’s brand and dampen their own chances at good jobs.