Value Of Mindfulness

Upasana Sharan Nov 27, 2023

Indian Institute of Management Bodh Gaya (IIMBG) with a vision of creating mindful and socially responsible business leaders has been the fastest growing campus in last three years with a jump of 20 notches in the NIRF 2023 ranking and with around 1200 Management students & scholars and around 60 highly qualified faculty on campus. Getting AACSB accreditation at the earliest is a top priority of the instituion. This year, IIMBG has launched two new specialised MBA courses - MBA: Hospital & Healthcare Management and MBA: Digital Business.

With an enviable placement record, the institute has distinction of having five fully residential long duration courses with flagship MBA, 5 year Integrated Programme in Management and Phd in Management along with robust Executive Education both online & offline. The absolutely new climate controlled campus is now ready and occupied. With a stadium and big sports complex, it creates an environment for the holistic development of the students.

Director Dr Vinita Sahay speaks to BW Education in a recent conversation. Edited excerpts:

Developing mindful leaders of business and social relevance in the global economy and to enhance academic excellence in learning practices and research is the core mission of IIMBG. The institution choose the value of mindfulness as its focus area. Mindfulness was introduced in the institute’s mission statement after brainstorming with all stakeholders. “In line with its mission to develop mindful business leaders and sensitise the value of mindfulness among the business community, the institute has taken multiple steps to achieve these outcomes such as setting up of its own Mindfulness Centre – Samatvam, introduction of mindfulness related courses in MBA, PhD and IPM programmess, etc. and organising conferences, workshop and FDP on mindfulness,” shares Dr Vinita Sahay, Director, IIM Bodh Gaya. She adds, “Through this, the institute wishes to add an important social dimension to business and management and create a greater consciousness on the triple bottom line of people, planet and profits”.

IIMBG ensures relevance in business trends through participation from industry to keep the students abreast with latest issues, concepts and models existing in dynamic and complex business environment. This facilitates bridging the gap between industry and academic and ensuring relevance and currency of the pedagogy.

“The institute also endeavours to develop socially responsible business leaders and its emphasis on societal impact is reflected through its vision, mission and programme learning competencies. To develop leaders of social relevance, IIMBG believes that contributing to society is as imperative as academic achievements,” underlines Sahay. She further says, “As responsible future managers, it is a prerogative of every individual to contribute to society. The institute has actively participated in various social initiatives like ‘a river cleanliness drive’ and ‘rural welfare programme’ attempting to influence others' lives and leave an indelible mark on others’ lives”.

The common thread of academic excellence binds all the activities undertaken at IIMBG. This is predominantly accomplished through its innovative pedagogy involving immersive learning experience.

The flagship MBA programme of IIMBG equips a student for an industry and services led career in the global environment. The programme impedes theoretical and practical erudition of different functional areas of management endowing the students with an overall approach to management functions and managerial skills. The programme is designed to enhance our students with a strong awareness and knowledge about the socio-economic environment both at national and global level. The objective is to bring into being a global manager not only with strong analytical and decision-making skills but an overall personality with socially enviable values and ethics.

In line with the growing need for trained managerial talent, IIMBG started five years Integrated Programme in Management (IPM) from academic session 2021. The objective of the programme is to prepare candidates from a foundation level for taking up leadership positions in corporate and government organisations. With an early induction to the programme and a rigorous and holistic curriculum, our students will demonstrate problem solving skills supported by appropriate analytical techniques and will use ethical and socially conscious judgement while analysing business situations. Candidates successfully completing the course requirement of integrated programme in management would be awarded Bachelor of Business Management and Master of Business Administration by IIMBG. Candidates opting for exit after completing the requirement of first three years, would be awarded Bachelor of Business Management. The PhD programme in management at IIMBG is a full-time residential programme that aims to foster quality researchers, innovative thinkers and touchstone academics.

The institute has launched 3 executive certificate programmes on Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Business Management and Digital Marketing for Business. The programme incorporates several tools and techniques used in the industry for analytics applications.

The institute has entered MoU with academic institutions like Indian Institute of Technology, Patna and All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna to collaborate on interdisciplinary research and teaching. IIM Bodh Gaya has also signed MoUs with over 22 international institutes for research and teaching activities. Faculty and staff members are part of these exchange programmes with international partners. The research collaborations with international faculties are slowly picking up in numbers. The University of Derby, UK collaborated with IIMBG along with a couple of other institutions across the world to organise an online workshop to develop the network of international academic researchers to promote research collaboration in the area of Operations and Supply Chain Sustainability.

The institute has partnered with the State Health Society, Bihar to provide management solutions to address their grass root problems associated with limited reach and lack of motivation and engagement. IIMBG faculties provided the management expertise by designing and delivering management development programmes for the employees of State Health Society, Bihar. The institute provided training sessions for local budding entrepreneurs for micro and small enterprises in aspects related to management under the Chief Minister Entrepreneur Scheme of Govt of Bihar.