5 reasons to do an exchange term abroad

It’s been long since I contributed to this blog however this is a very apt occasion to make a comeback by describing the experience of an exchange term. For those uninitiated: PGSEM offers the students a chance (or 2 chances which I’ll explain later) to take one of their term in a foreign university. This is the same as offered to the PGP batch studying along with you and same to the extent that the rank list for choosing universities is common between the PGP and PGSEM students. For e.g. this year’s 2^nd ranker overall was a PGSEMer and he got to choose London Business School for his exchange term.

Anyways, exchange university selection process is a thrill in itself but to keep it short, around the 4^th quarter of your studies, you’re asked to choose if you want to take a quarter abroad. Now by 2 chances I meant that since PGSEM has 10 quarters so they get to opt 2 times for the exchange process (though they can only take 1 exchange term during the course). Based on your 1^st quarter marks, all students, PGP and PGSEM are ranked together and asked to choose the universities in order of the student’s rank. And don’t worry, IIM Bangalore has partnerships with most top institutes in all geographies.

Now coming back to the topic, what are the top 5 reasons for PGSEM students specifically to do an exchange term abroad? Though reasons below might overlap with numerous folks who have taken exchange term at different universities, ones stated below are strictly derived from my experience at NUS Business School, Singapore. Ordered from least important to the most important according to me:

Subject Choice is good reason for taking up an exchange. A lot of schools IIM has tie up with work in a university system and what I found exciting was that at NUS Business School, you have access to the whole university to choose some of the subjects. People can take up 1 subject outside of Business School in any discipline of their choice. Some people picked up Chinese language, some picked Music and so on. I ended up picking a course with school of design and environment out of my interest in Clean Tech. Even the business school would present you a different subject choice simply because they’re a different school with different faculty. To state it another way: It’s not needed that the foreign university is better, it’s better that there is more variety at your disposal.

Networking:  I feel that exchange term drastically increases your network. Especially when you’re a PGSEMer, you’re interacting with your batch mates in classes and to some extent after classes for extracurricular or projects. Being full-time in a hostel with a bunch of MBA students is a totally different experience. The friendships formed when you’re studying together, networking together (read partying) or eating together are fairly more involved. A totally new environment and new country helps your forge several new friendships in a short duration. Also since you’re studying full time, you could pick up even unpaid internships in fields that you’re more interested in and build your network further.

Diversity: Your network is not only large but more Diverse. Going into a foreign university during the exchange term, brings in people from various nationalities and various backgrounds. If two people had the same set of people they knew, the gain in network connections is not that much, but if the set of people are totally from different field and country, you gained a whole new network of friends. However perhaps scoring high on people you know is the least benefit of working in a diverse group. You learn a lot about team work, cultural sensitivity and tacit knowledge about dealing with a variety of people that’s much more valuable.

Career Services: Another important reason for me to choose exchange was for the career services that the exchange school provided. Let me clarify, this doesn’t mean that you’ll be sitting in placements in foreign school. What it means is that you can take help from career services of these schools to improve your profile, get your resume reviewed or even attend presentations from companies you’re interested in.

Taking MBA without work: Lastly but most importantly for a PGSEMer, an exchange term provides an opportunity to take your MBA without work. You’d note I didn’t use the word “Full-time” because for one I can tell is that the number classroom contact hours are exactly the same per subject either ways. What changes is that you’re much more focussed on the subjects and don’t have to switch context too much. If it was to me, I’d say PGSEMers are the most hardened MBA graduates who can balance more than any other full time folks. However at the same time, it’s a pleasant break to be able to concentrate on your subjects full time, pick up more subjects, spend your extra time in extracurricular activities and be a student again.

However at the end of the day, there is opportunity cost involved.  PGSEMers are constrained by their work commitments sometime and cannot take this unpaid break from work. Such long a break might even put your employment at risk. This decision finally rests on the person taking it and s/he has to fix all these. There are some schools which even give scholarships to IIM students and if not totally free, the trip costs reduce drastically.

It was a great experience for me and I hope some of the above reasons resonate with you and you take this exciting opportunity that PGSEM provides you.

PGSEM 2013 Admissions - Open House on July 28, 2012

The 2nd open house for clarifying your queries related to PGSEM, admissions for 2013 batch and interaction with students, alumni & faculty will be held on July 28, 2012 at IIM Bangalore Auditorium. If you are interested in the program or planning to apply for the program next year or have queries, please make sure you attend the open house next Saturday. Register for the event here.

As we noted earlier and also clarified in Facebook and IIMB website, the major policy change with respect to admissions next year onwards is that ONLY CAT 2012 and GMAT (taken after Jan 1, 2010) will be considered and there is NO PGSEM Admission test.

This is a good opportunity to spend your Sunday in a green resort-like campus of IIMB :) Also the best opportunity to meet current students of PGSEM, alumni, Professors to clarify all your doubts about PGSEM and IIMB admission philosophy. The agenda for the day is provided below.

Timings	Agenda
10:00 A.M	Participants Assemble @ Auditorium
10:10 - 10:15	Welcome Address by Prof. S Ramesh Kumar, Chairperson, PGSEM
10:15 - 10:20	Address by Prof. Narendra M Agarwal, Chairperson, CSITM
10:20 - 10:25	Mr. Rakesh Godhwani, PGSEM Alumni
10:25 - 10:30	Mr. Rajesh Pandit, CSITM
10:30 – 10:35	Mr. Karthik Srinivasan, PGSEM Alumni
10:35 – 10:40	Ms. Bhavani Koti, PGSEM SAC
10:40 – 10:50	Coffee/Tea Break
10:50 - 12:00	Q & A  with a Panel consisting of : Ø  Prof. S Ramesh Kumar, Chairperson, PGSEM Ø  Prof. M Jayadev Ø  Mr. Akshat Kumar, PGSEM Alumni Ø  Mr. Kapil Gupta, PGSEM Alumni

Yamini: The night that shone bright

Come 25th January each year and IIMB becomes the host to Indian Classical music afficados of Bangalore. The dusk-to-dawn music festival Yamini hosted five stalwarts this year - Bharatanatyam by Padma Bhushan Smt Alarmel Valli, Hindustani vocal by Dr. Ashwini Bhide Deshpande, Carnatic vocal by Padma Bhushan Vidwan TN. Sheshagopalan, Carnatic flute by Vidwan Shashank Subramanyam and Hindustani violin by Vidwan Kala Ramnath.

The beautiful landscape, the cool night and the mesmerizing music sent the whole crowd into a trans like state. Some swinging their heads in rhythm. Some eyes-closed, looking up the night sky. If the blissful music soothes one and all, the event itself is provides a rare opportunity for us students to meet our respected professors and their families in a relaxed setting.

So another year's wait begins for the next Yamini. And lest I forget, wishing all my countrymen a happy 64th year of our proud Indian Republic.. and who knows, maybe a five-thousandth year of our civilization and culture :-)

Second Hand Learning

Sitting in a PGSEM classroom can be quite an experience sometimes, purely for its awe-inducing value among other things. There is no doubt about the fact that our professors are extremely accomplished individuals who have a wealth of knowledge to share. But sometimes you realize it is not just their knowledge but also that of the world’s foremost authorities on certain subjects that is being passed on to you in class. And that fleeting moment of inspiration (before intimidation follows) is priceless.

For instance, yesterday we discovered that one of our professors has studied under Narendra Karmarkar at the TIFR. Last quarter, we were taught by a professor who has studied under Nouriel Roubini. And it is good to know that we are getting to hear the ideas of these stalwarts somewhere through our professors. While that has the danger of mental tunnelling occurring due to the influences/hand-me-down ideas, it is important to note that it is probably better than not getting to hear these ideas at all. This second hand learning from international authorities has been quite a fascinating aspect of the course, whenever it has presented itself.

A few weeks ago, the Internet was abuzz with reports of the advent of Facebook reducing the degrees of separation in the world from 6 to 4.74. In our case, we are one degree of separation away from some of the best brains in the world and that is a good spurt of motivation any day!

Are you ready to ride the next big wave?

Will you be the Corporate Czar?

Corporate Events @ Vista 2011

Another edition of IIM Bangalore's premiere Business Festival is back this year. Visit http://www.iimb-vista.com/ to know more about competitions, talks, workshops and conclaves organized as part of Vista 2011!

This year also, we bring to you exclusive corporate events with interesting competitions that enable you to come out of the daily job chores and participate and network with like-minded intellectuals!

Corporate Czars

Whether it is a frail or robust economy, corporate strategies have evolved into newer and newer dimensions. Gone are the days when the mergers, acquisitions and partnerships were based on the prevailing regulatory frameworks or ideology of open standards. Strategies for controlling technology and market access have taken interesting routes with IPR battles and IP trading arising as the front-runner in acquisition strategies.

Is it the ego that is playing the daemon? Are market players moving in the direction of mutually assured destruction?
or is it still the strategically thought decisions that win the bet?
Are you ready to play the role of a protagonist to devise strategies for the next big move for one of the leading market player?

Click here to participate!

Deadline for initial submission - September 15

The Next Big Wave

Innovative solutions crafted with a keen market understanding will be the only straw that will keep the companies afloat in this dynamically changing market. The Next Big Wave challenges you to identify innovative solutions for the live and imminent business problems faced by the emerging industry sectors. Can you ride this next big wave ?

Click here to participate!


Deadline for initial submission - September 15

Corporate Quiz

Vista presents Corporate Quiz an exclusive quizzing extravaganza for corporate participants. Hosted by acclaimed quiz masters, with the top corporate teams fighting it out, the winners would have to dig really deep and bring out their best game to the table. So, come and join us for an entertaining and joyful afternoon which is sure to prick your brain at the same time. Let the sparks fly!