Vital Statistics

• WHAT IS IT? A fully residential business school. • WHO’S THE BOSS? K.K. Chaudhuri is the director. • HOW TO GET IN? Admission is through CAT followed by group discussion and personal interview. • WHAT ABOUT JOBS? There is an active placement cell. • WHERE TO STAY? There are separate hostel facilities for both boys and girls. • WHERE IS IT? Army Institute of Management, Judges Court Road, Alipore, Calcutta – 700027. Phone: 2479-4494, 2439-8335 37/38. E-mail: aim_kol@rediffmail.com Website: www.aim.ac.in

Established and managed by the Army Welfare Education Society (AWES), New Delhi, in July 1997, the Army Institute of Management (AIM), Calcutta, sits pretty on more than 10 acres of greenery in the heart of the city. Says K.K. Chaudhuri, director, “Our institute is different from the others in that our programme is fully residential and we are the only ones in the eastern region to boast of a cosmopolitan student profile.”

Frequent postings of Army officers posed problems for their children’s higher education. Hence, this institute has 80 per cent seat reservations for Army wards and 20 per cent seats are open to the general category. However, reservations don’t mean a relaxation in academic standards. In fact, in the recent Best B-School Survey, 2006, in Outlook, AIM was ranked amongst the top 50 B-Schools in the country and ‘A’ category by Business India.

Bill of fare

The institute offers a two-year full-time residential MBA recognised by AICTE and affiliated to the West Bengal University of Technology (WBUT). “The curriculum is prescribed by WBUT and is of an international standard,” claims Chaudhuri. Students have the option of specialising in marketing, HR, systems or finance in their second year. There are 120 seats on offer and the eligibility is a bachelors degree in any discipline from any recognised university with at least 50 per cent marks. Admission is on the basis of the students’ performance in CAT, followed by a group discussion and personal interview.

The academic and the cultural ambience at AIM are a major attraction for students. Says Navjit Kaur, a third semester student, “Being from an Army background, the diverse profile of the students appealed to me.” Since it has a feel of the Army, it appeals to young men and women from the defence background. Says Avinash Dubey, a third semester student who comes from an Army background, “The familiar environment made me decide in favour of the institute. Coupled with that, the rankings as well as the placement scenario made me go for AIM.”

Top facilities

With the Army managing the show, the facilities provided are top class. State-of-the-art auditoriums act as classrooms and can accommodate upto 130 students at a time. The campus is fully wired and Internet facility is available to students even in their hostel rooms. The library is extensive and boasts of a collection of over 6,500 books.

Students can avail of outdoor sports facilities like basketball, volleyball, and indoor facilities like table tennis. Says Shuchi Monga, a third semester student, “The place to chill out is the cafeteria. We spend quite a long time just chatting and relaxing there.”

Play time

AIM is high on the extra-curricular quotient. There’s Inferno (the annual inter B-School meet), Nostalgia (the annual alumni meet) and the sports meet. Says Monga, “We also have different clubs catering to different activities. Like Vikreta for mastering the art of selling, Sampark for analysing the HR trends of a changing economy, etc.” Industry honchos are regularly invited to speak on topics of current importance. The institute also boasts of a 100 per cent placement record. Companies like TCS, AC Nielsen, ORG Marg, Nike, Reliance Infocom, etc, come for recruitment. Beams Dubey, “Placements have just started and 60 per cent of the batch are already placed.”

AIM has ambitious expansion plans. “Having just increased the intake from 90 to 120, we want to shift to a bigger campus at Rajarhat by 2010,” signs off Chaudhuri.

Shibani Chattopadhyay

OLD MEMORIES

Sachin Narang, senior manager, Bharti Airtel, relives his AIM days

We were just the second batch to graduate from AIM and yet we were ranked 34th in the Business India survey. The best thing about the institute was the incredible faculty. The director was well networked and hence, despite not belonging to an IIM, we were never scared of the future. Reputed companies came down for the placements.

Campus life was great too. After long hours of study, our favourite hangout joint was Gill Palace, where we used to gorge on alu parathas and chai. Also, it was at college that I got introduced to the New Empire kathi rolls. The flavour still lingers. But I do feel that in spite of its excellent faculty, good infrastructure and students, AIM is not very visible on the national map. Maybe, the institute should market itself more aggressively!

As told to Shibani Chattopadhyay