IIM Shillong: We Want to Carve Our Own Identity

By Lajwanti Dsouza

IIM Shillong campus

Having begun operations only in July 2008, the institute has come a long way. Read how IIM Shillong attracted the best of the talent to its campus.

If you want to take a picture postcard of Shillong, all you have to do is click a photograph of the IIM Shillong campus with its palatial building and regal drive-in. If you have a wide lens, you can get the bounteous flowery gardens on either side of the sloping drive-in and the pine trees lining the campus. Try squeezing in the quaint and archaic guest house at the extreme right into the photo frame to make the picture complete.

And if you really want a great shot, stay up till 4 am, when most IIM Shillong students go to sleep, and click the glorious sun rising beyond miles of wooden rooftops and mist-clad hills.

For students of IIM Shillong, the picturesque environment plays a big role in their academic journey to becoming qualified managers.

Teething problems

Having begun operations only in July 2008, the institute has come a long way. According to Prof Ashoke Dutta, director of IIM Shillong (which is actually named Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management), when the first group of 63 students were recruited in July, there was practically nothing on the campus. "There was not even a chair or table, forget other furniture. There were no stairs to places, no pathways. The students helped me put up their entire institute. We worked from scratch. From every nail on the wall to every flower in the garden. It was all set up by the first batch who worked with me."

Dutta adds that the first batch of students worked in groups to set up the place. One group worked as the director's 'secretary', another group looked after maintenance, still other looked after IT solutions, one worked on the library and one looked at admin issues.

"We did not look at any other IIM or want to be like any other. We wanted to carve our own identity, so decided to do things our way and the first batch of students really did a good job due to which things are how they are today," adds Prof Dutta.

The director's words make sense given the fact that not only were the entire first batch of 63 placed but last year IIM Shillong won practically every tournament they took part in. Be it IIM Indore's two flagship events Ashwamedha and Kalpavriksha, IIM Ahmedabad's Masterplan or WagonR Think Big Challenge, organised by Maruti Suzuki.

It was not the easiest getting students for IIM Shillong since admissions began after they had closed at other B-schools. The first batch did not come through the centralised CAT process either. Advertisements for admission were put out way after the CAT announcement.

"We conducted interviews in March. J Shah from IIM Ahmedabad and Samir Barua were the two people who helped me look at admissions, faculty, infrastructure. The three of us looked at everything from point zero and started our way up," says Prof Dutta.