Mr Saibal Chattopadhyay
The Indian Institute of Management Calcutta’s new director Saibal Chattopadhyay says he has two primary tasks up his sleeve. One, to get rid of the halo that has been built around the IIMs over the years and the other to change the curriculum of his b-school.
“There is huge halo around the IIMs, it has become a brand today. The question to be asked is whether this halo is helping the country or not. Whether this brand is working with the social sector or not. No point looking at the IIMs in such glory if we have not contributed enough to the environment in which we function,” Mr Chattopadhyay told PaGaLGuY.
The new director added that as an institute IIM-C has done full justice to the reservation seats and admits the biggest number in the category. “We are trying our bit to help the society around us. But as a group of institutes, all IIMs have to play a more intrinsic role in governance and uplifting standards and only then can we talk about the halo that people see in the IIMs today,” the director added.
As for the institute, the first job that Mr Chattopadhyay has listed from himself is changing the curriculum. “Our PGP curriculum is 6 years old. We have to make it more update and in tune with the changes across the globe. We have to get to more international standards of teaching, if we have to compare to institutes abroad.”
However, while changing the curriculum, what the director plans to retain are the institute’s core competencies like analytical skills. “Our strength is our analytical skills which we will only build on. We take students high on these skills. In fact, we are working on many related initiatives with the government and we are trying to help the government achieve targets on this front.”
What the new director plans to add to the curriculum is courses on Healthcare management, Environment, Sustainability which are the big talking points globally.
The other big change the director plans to bring is finalising all the big infrastructural changes happening in the campus. “There is a huge capacity upgradation going on. More classrooms, more hostel rooms. There is a lot of construction activity happening at this point. It will also be top class construction so I will personally be looking at it as well.”
As for other changes, Mr Chattopadhyay said that he has not yet met the IIM-C board. “The earlier director Shekhar Chaudhari had brought about many good changes for the institute. He increased the intake of students, brought in a societal approach to things. I need to study all of them closely and continue the good work.”