ISB received accreditation by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), making it the first business school in South Asia to be recognised by this premier global body. By this accreditation, ISB now joins the exclusive league of the world's best business schools. The AACSB accreditation has been earned by less than 5% of the world's business schools. Achieving the accreditation is a process of rigorous internal review, evaluation, and adjustment. Over the years, ISB has developed and implemented a plan to meet the AACSB accreditation standards, which requires a high quality teaching environment, a commitment to continuous improvement, and curricula responsive to the needs of businesses. Dean Ajit Rangnekar expressed his joy at the announcement, “Given our commitment to creating research-based knowledge, and developing leaders through innovative world-class programmes, we are delighted to have this robust and independent reaffirmation of our adherence to our mission.”
On the occasion of the School’s tenth anniversary, two books that capture very different facets of ISB were launched. The first, “An Idea Whose Time Has Come,” a book written by the Founding Dean, Pramath Sinha, traces ISB’s ten-year journey and discusses the challenges faced by the School in its founding years. Sinha also talks about the key individuals and stakeholders who played a pivotal role in creating and shaping the institution and its culture.
Adding to the celebration was another book launch. “Birds of ISB,” a rich introduction to avian treasures on campus, was also launched. The authors, Raghoo Sinha, a retired professor and avid birdwatcher, Raghuram Ananthasayana, an ISB alumnus from the Class of 2011 and Ruchi Sinha, Assistant Professor of Organisational Behaviour at ISB, have presented colourful photographs and brief descriptions of over 70 species of birds that can be found on campus at various times of the year. Through this work, the authors hope to raise awareness of the birds on the campus and the larger ISB ecosystem.
Renowned sand artist, Kanth Risa’s hands weaved the School’s ten-year journey on a sand canvas in perfect sync with the narration provided by Nishi Ratnam, student from the Class of 2012. The performance was part of the School’s tenth anniversary celebrations, which also coincided with Solstice, the annual reunion event that the ISB organises to reconnect with its alumni.
The ISB community also had the opportunity to witness the maestro Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia perform the flute, with accompanying flautist Shri K S Rajesh, Pandit Bhavanishankar on the pakhaawaj and Pandit Subhankar Banerjee who played the tabla. It was a nostalgic occasion as Pandit Chaurasia had also performed at the Schoo'sl inaugural ceremony ten years ago.
With this evening of stellar performances, ISB culminated its year-long tenth anniversary celebrations held in different cities across the world.
The theme for this year’s Solstice, “Celebrating Every ‘I’ at ISB” was an apt salutation to all the students, faculty, staff and alumni who have led ISB to this celebratory juncture at ten years.
The pioneer class of ISB’s Certificate Programme in Strategic Retail Management (CSRM) graduated on December 22, 2011. Offered by the Coca-Cola ISB Retail Academy, CSRM is a unique industry-specific certification programme that is designed to cater to the demands of fast-rising senior executives, who want to pursue a formal quality management programme in the area of retail while they continue to work. The Coca-Cola ISB Retail Academy has been formed as a result of collaboration between ISB and Coca-Cola with a vision to bring world-class retail practices to India. The CSRM programme has been specially designed keeping in mind the requirements of senior Indian retail professionals. Integration of their practical experience with the knowledge gained through this programme will facilitate their growth as leaders.
The first graduation ceremony was attended by distinguished guests from the industry including Raj Jain, CEO, Bharti WalMart Private Limited, who spoke about his “Vision 2020” for retail in India, the challenges and opportunities for the retail leaders of tomorrow and the key capabilities to be built for the development of a successful retail environment in India.
For information on CEE’s programmes, please click here.
N G Badari Narayan, Chava Satyanarayana, Aju Jacob and Ravi Prayaga from the Founding Class of ISB’s PGPMAX launched India's first Bioabsorbable Endovascular Drug Coated Stent "3V-Avatar," through their new start-up S3V Vascular Technologies. The students met at the ISB in 2010 and graduated from the PGPMAX course this year.
Speaking about the product’s merits, Badari said that the “3V-Avatar” not only restores blood flow by opening a blocked vessel, but also releases a pro-healing drug during its entire life span (about 18 months) and dissolves after fulfilling its life-saving vessel support role. Unlike the widely-used metal stents that can cause clotting, there is no danger of clotting and generally no need for long term anti-platelet therapy.
Dean Ajit Rangnekar, who was present at the launch, said, “We at ISB are happy transforming our business management students into entrepreneurs. Given entrepreneurship's potential to support economic growth, it is our goal to develop a culture of entrepreneurial thinking.”
The Alumni Endowment Fund at the ISB was started in the year 2010, seeded with generous support from the Class of 2004. The initial support to the fund also came from the Class of 2010. ISB, along with representatives of the donor classes, has agreed to use the endowment fund towards giving one “diversity scholarship” to PGP students starting from academic year 2012-13. The scholarship will be called “Alumni Endowment Scholarship.” The School believes in increasing diversity amongst the students and scholarships such as this will become an important vehicle to attract many more deserving applications. The scholarship will be open to students who come from industry verticals or education backgrounds that are not well-represented in the previous class of students.
Another scholarship, called the “Class of 2011 Scholarship” was instituted this year by the Class of 2011. The scholarship will be awarded to a deserving candidate based on need and merit. Around 40 alumni of the Class of 2011 have each pledged from Rs 5,000 - 18,000 towards instituting this scholarship for a period of at least five years. The inaugural “Class of 2011 Scholarship” for the academic year 2011-12 has already been awarded.
For more information on the fund and scholarship, please click here.
ISB hosted Swavalamban II, a seminar on “Strengthening Manufacturing in India through Defence Offsets,” which received overwhelming support from more than 300 delegates from the industry, government, College of Defence Management (CDM) and the ISB. The seminar provided insights on the key technologies that need to be identified so that offsets can add strategic value rather than just economic value to the nation. The discussion also highlighted an urgent need to enhance the R&D capacity of the private sector in order to become attractive to foreign original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for formation of JVs, and enable Indian companies to become major players in the global supply chain. There speakers also voiced the need to relax FDI restrictions to promote technology transfer by OEMs.
Amongst the prominent guests who graced the seminar included His Excellency Shri E S L Narasimhan, Governor Andhra Pradesh and Shri M M Pallam Raju, Raksha Rajya Mantri (Minister of State for Defence).
The fifth ISB Accounting Research Conference was held at the ISB campus recently on December 19-20, 2011. The broad theme of papers presented at the conference this year was to examine the usefulness of accounting information in capital markets.
Several factors influence the usefulness of accounting information. For example, while financial forecasts by managers and financial analysts improve the quality of accounting information, self-fulfilling motives of managers can adversely affect it. Despite various frictions in the capital markets, the common thread of results among the papers was that, accounting provides valuable information to the investors.
Book on ISB’s Journey Launched to Commemorate Ten Years of the School
Memorable Performances Mark ISB’s Ten-Year Journey
ISB Leadership Summit 2011: 48 hours, 45 speakers and 12 panel discussions
Seminar on Strengthening Manufacturing through Defence Offsets
Graduation Ceremony of the First Class of “Strategic Retail Management” Students
PGPMAX Students Launch India's First Bioabsorbable Endovascular Drug-Coated Stent
Alumni Contribute towards Scholarships
Professor Sankar De Invited to be Part of an RBI Committee
ISB Becomes South Asia’s First Business School to Earn AACSB Accreditation
Conference Highlights Utility of Accounting Data in Capital Markets