The Institute of Management Development and Research (IMDR), Pune, is one of the most unconventional B-schools that you could come across. It isn?t quite the digital fortress that most management institutes today are ? no swanky classrooms, hi-tech labs or students making multimedia presentations in true corporate style. But IMDR was never known for its technological attributes. The stress, in this 30-year-old B-school, has always been on academics and all-round personality development of students and that is what has seen it emerge as one of the leading management institutes in the Oxford of the East.

So, when they are not in the classrooms, IMDR students are either learning ballroom dancing or planting trees, and sometimes, even studying snakes. The rationale behind this activity, as the institute?s director Atul Sapre says, is that management is not just about thinking, but also doing. ?India needs management students who are strong not only in the head but also in the limbs,? he asserts.

Basic business

IMDR offers three postgraduate diplomas ? in management, international trade and human resources. The number of seats is 65. The method of learning is traditional. Rather than focus on the latest market trends and look up to western B-schools, IMDR?s practical lessons start with the typically Indian vegetable wholesale markets and touch upon the classical business methods to give students an insight into the way business is done at the grassroot level. This, the institute feels, enables students to understand the dynamics of business in the country besides giving them a lesson in human behaviour.

So it hardly comes as a surprise when Sapre says that fieldwork for the first-year MBA students is not with corporate houses but non-governmental organisations (NGOs). A group of 10-12 students are expected to achieve financial targets of about Rs 1 lakh in six months as part of their fieldwork exercise, says Sapre. Students, too, give their vote of confidence to this ?back to the basics? method of learning where nothing is imposed on them. As Uday Ganorkar, a student, puts it, ?What I like best about IMDR is the freedom it offers. It is not strait-jacketed in its approach and encourages creative thinking.?

Giving them space

Dr Anand Sukumaran, a faculty member, believes the institute has been successful because it has been able to create an atmosphere of learning. ?We don?t believe in keeping students busy the entire day,? he says, adding, ?We would rather give them the space to brood, and fall in and out of love. Learning takes place in any situation.?

But the biggest challenge, both Sapre and Sukumaran agree, is to get the students to read. ?Downloading study material from the Internet is easy. But you only understand your subject and start appreciating it when you start reading. Students need to read a lot more,? says Sapre.

Democratic culture

The culture at IMDR is democratic ? students are invited to give their feedback on everything ? from the quality of teaching to the course curriculum. ?We understand the importance of questioning. Students are always free to ask questions on any issue,? says Dr Sukumaran. But it?s a complete dictatorship when it comes to attendance. ?Eighty per cent attendance is compulsory,? says Sapre. ?The logic is that it helps peer learning ? an important issue among most managers,? he explains. When it comes to relationship with the faculty, students say that their institute is the best. ?On the first day, the director addresses each student by his or her name. That immediately forges a bond,? says Priny Thomas, a student.

The overall placement record of the institute is good. Campus placements command an average annual package of Rs 3.25 lakh. And when students get placed, it?s time for the IMDR ritual ? being dunked in the ?holy pond?, and being smeared with raw eggs!

REENA MARTINS

OLD MEMORIES

Mahrukh Bandorawalla, chief manager, HRD, Siemens, Mumbai

THE BEST THING about IMDR was its focus on values like integrity. The emphasis was always on being true to oneself rather than building up an artificial image.

What really mattered at IMDR was that the students delivered. The institute never flaunted it and never tried to build an image that would be considered to be in sync with the times. A focal point of the college was the quadrangle, where all the non-classroom learning took place. One subject I thoroughly enjoyed was Modern Human Dilemmas. This had nothing to do with corporate affairs but dealt with topics like drama, poetry, communism ? all that went into expanding the mind so much.

What I also remember having enjoyed tremendously was the Human Development Lab that was held for two weeks once a year. At the lab, students just introspected on their lives and the issues that surfaced in the process.

AS TOLD TO REENA MARTINS