BIMTECH introduces unique Community Immersion Programme in its PGDM Course
Birla Institute of Management Technology, Greater Noida created another milestone on its path towards “Excellence with Values”. In what may be called as a landmark day for Business Education, the institute today flagged of its newly introduced “Community Immersion Programme” – a mandatory experiential learning component aimed to encourage student engagement in social projects. It has been integrated with the Responsible Business Course offered across all PGDM Programmes. This unique exposure to the real “Bharat” is intended to inculcate Institutional Social Responsibility, as well as, sensitize the youth to participate actively in participatory community development in future.
The institute is dedicated towards nation building and leaves no stone unturned to nurture responsible citizens for the society who would be catalysts of social change. This unique pedagogical intervention will certainly ingrain among today’s corporate citizens, an attitude of creativity and innovation in problem solving. This platform has been created to enhance the Adaptability Quotient, Appreciative Intelligence, Positive Intelligence, entrepreneurial mindset, Empathy and Social Competency among aspiring managers which are most sought after skills by recruiters. The course is aligned with the national agenda of “Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas” and “Unnat Bharat Abhiyan” by MHRD which makes rural engagement and community development mandatory for government B Schools and engineering institutions.
In the words of Dr. Harivansh Chaturvedi, Director “Today is TURNING POINT in the history of our institute. Going to a village, NGO, Jail, Slum will be now a part of our curriculum. It was direly needed for us to connect with our neighbouring community. Preparations started months back. Under the visionary leadership of Prof N.N. Sharma, Chairperson, Centre for Sustainability and Public Policy, a very relevant policy has been designed to create awareness and inculcate nation building values among today’s youth. It is also HISTORY IN MAKING for our future trajectory.”
Prof. K K Krishnan, Chairperson, Centre for Corporate Relations welcomed the new policy and congratulated Prof. N N Sharma and his team Prof L Ramani (Chairperson-Centre for Business Management), Dr Vineeta Dutta Roy (Faculty-Responsible Business), Dr Rishi Tiwari (Head-CSR Implementation), Prof Saloni Sinha (Convener-Social Projects) and Mr. Satender Rana (Program Manager) who were instrumental in actuating this vision of the Director of involving students in participatory activities leading to the improvement of the social fabric of the nation. He said “BIMTECH has had a futuristic vision since a decade, and is certainly proud of immersing few students of PGDM (Insurance) every year for 2 or 3 months during SIP giving them first hand experience of livelihood issues by doing field in the villages of Gujarat-resulting in great experiential learning for them. He applauded Dr. Chaturvedi’s vision for entering into a MoU with SEWA more than a decade ago for giving this experience for our students.”
On 23 July, 2017, approximately 40 PGDM first year students, the trailblazers of this new initiative, led by Dr Rishi Tiwari along with Mr Satender Rana and some alumni visited NEEMKA Shahjahanpur village in Jewar District to conduct a household survey on status of awareness and implementation of government schemes like Pradhanmantri Adarsh Gram Yojna, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna, Vidhwa scheme, Toilet scheme and Project “Protsahan Chiraiyya” (a Life Skills Education Programme implemented by BIMTECH). Each student had to interview minimum five respondents.
The students were highly motivated and enthusiastic about the village visit and have shown deep inclination to consolidate the implementation of this new policy which enhances student engagement in social projects. The institute thus establishes an ecosystem for long term community development and grooming responsible managers for society.
