Amid COVID-19, flagship MBA program commences online

In the midst of Covid-19 pandemic, the incoming 57th batch of 2020-2022 for the flagship MBA programme started classes digitally from the 10th of August, ensuring students’ learning is not compromised. Around 480 students from across the country joined the virtual classes. IIMC has been spearheading the digital space for a long time, and now are creating technology solutions for the MBA students to mimic the classroom experience to the extent possible in online mode. Professor Peeyush Mehta, Chairperson, MBA programme said, “To make the learning experience better the students will be distributed across six sections of class strength 80 of each section. There would be an average of 4-5 hours of total classroom live contact hours. The Institute will also assist students facing internet issues in numerous ways, including providing recordings of a missed class, opportunity to interact with the instructors after the class, additional tutorials, and other possible help in academic activities.”

The admissions process was in full swing when the COVID-19 was declared a pandemic on March 13. However, keeping the safety of the candidates, the staff and the faculty members in mind, all admission interviews were conducted online. Additionally, since it was infeasible to conduct Written Ability Test with fairness in the online admission process, the institute decided not to consider the weightage given for WAT for the final selection of MBA 2020-22 batch to maintain the fairness and consistency of the admissions process for all candidates. Prof Megha Sharma, Chairperson, Admissions said, "More than 35% of the incoming students are females. In terms of academic diversity, this year close to 20% of the incoming students are from Non-Engineering backgrounds. Similarly, in terms of prior work experience, more than 60% of the batch has prior work experience".

Although Covid-19 and social distancing have presented the institute with an unprecedented challenge this year, IIM Calcutta and their faculty have shown remarkable resilience and adaptability in switching temporarily to digital delivery for the benefit of the students. Since April, they have worked seamlessly to plan, develop and deliver online courses to ensure the timely commencement of the Doctoral, MBA, MBAEx and PGPEX-VLM programmes.

Prof Anju Seth, Director, IIM Calcutta said, “At IIM Calcutta we are eagerly waiting to welcome the incoming MBA batch of 2020. Overcoming the challenges posed by the pandemic, we have put a plan in place to ensure an excellent learning experience through online onboarding and instruction for the incoming batch. I am confident that despite the prevailing scenario, we will be able to live-up to the expectation of an excellent learning experience of our students. As IIMC reopens in online mode, several steps have been taken to both sustain our academic rigour and preserve the unique teaching and learning experience on a digital platform."