Christ Institute of Management (CIM), Lavasa

Sarath Shyam
Dr. (Fr.) Jossy George, Director, CIM Lavasa
Christ University Trust was started in 2007 by the religious congregation, Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI) to promote social transformation through higher education, research and dissemination of knowledge in the humanities, sciences, technology, art, and other emerging areas. The objective is to contribute towards nation-building through quality education. It was born out of the educational vision of the CMI priests belonging to the Catholic Church. Christ University, Bengaluru is a nationally reputed institution established and promoted by the same trust.

CIM Lavasa, established in 2003, is a transformational place for students helping them develop their skills to serve society at all levels of Management. It is rooted in Gospel values, and is committed to provide holistic education through the development of intellectual competence, personal skills, inter-personal skills and societal skills.

"We are proactive to define and redefine our mission and strategies reading the signs of time". The simple, serene and calm environment of Lavasa is the perfect background for a student's holistic education and development as an individual. We aim at developing individuals with strong social responsibility and prepare them for all the professional, social and personal challenges.

A wide range of extra-curricular activities help the students explores their talents and the strong academic inputs make them conceptually robust. The students benefit from the location near the financial capital of India- Mumbai and the cyber city of India-Pune in terms of industry interaction for project work and guest lectures. The institute also gives them free rein to participate in fests and competitions all over the country to nurture their creative skills. "This has all led to our students being well placed in leading organizations in different parts of the country'' says Dr. (Fr.) Jossy George, Director, CIM Lavasa.

Lavasa's vision of 'Lifelong Learning' and 'Centre of Excellence and Education' bears synergy with Christ University's vision of 'Excellence and Service.' Christ University's passion for peace and scenic exposure are exemplified vibrantly in the serene and peaceful atmosphere at Lavasa. "We wanted to run CIM Lavasa on the line of IIMs, which are located far away from the daily routine of city life. Everything here is fundamentally tuned to academic pursuits and students are much more academically focused as the possibilities of distractions are very less," says Fr. Arun Antony, Coordinator, CIM Lavasa.

The Live-Work-Learn-Play approach of Lavasa is also integrated into the curriculum and pedagogy of CIM programs as well.The curriculum of CIM Lavasa is geared to nurture managers for the future with emphasis on holistic education and self-development. At CIM Lavasa, personal mentoring, corporate interface, industry visits and live projects are the key features of training. This ensures that the students are industry-ready at the end of the program. To enhance the analytical and problem solving skills of the students and to make them effective decision makers and leaders in a complex and globalized corporate world, the institute has included simulation, role-plays, blended learning and many more educational strategies in the teaching methodologies.

"Here, whatever we teach, we connect it with the industry. Every week, experts from industry come here and share their experiences. I can confidently tag our course as a replication of an industry-orientation," states Dr. (Fr.) George. Learning is entirely focused upon the practical aspects at CIM Lavasa and the students are well aware of the latest developments happening in the industry. "At the end of every session, we make sure that the students get extra training through certificate courses. Hence, when a student graduates from here, he/she will have 4-5 certificates in addition to their degree," adds Dr. Binu P. Paul, Head of Academics.

CIM Lavasa has definitely moved away from the traditional methods of classroom teaching, where students are forced to learn from power point presentations that the faculty members use. The institute focuses more on live projects and plans to introduce more project based courses in the years to come. "Project based courses are a great way to get an employer's attention. If a student does a project while studying a subject, he/she can showcase the same to the recruiters and have an extra edge over the other candidates," explains Dr. Binu. To extend the learning space outside the four walls of the classroom and provide opportunity for seamless learning and research, students at CIM can use the excellent infrastructure such as computer centre, spacious and digitally rich library and learning lab among other facilities. The institute also encourages and empowers the students and faculty members to take advantage of the learning management system powered by Moodle. �Here, technology plays a bigger role in the learning process and a large chunk of learning happens online,� says Dr. Binu.

At present, CIM Lavasa offers the two-year full-time PGDM course with specialization in Finance, Marketing and Human Resource. The institute also has plans to introduce a new specialization in Business Analytics. Dr. (Fr.) George says, "There are not many institutes that provide Business Analytics as a specialization in PGDM and we want to make it our differentiating factor." Although it remains to be seen how good the new campuses of reputed B-school brands in the country would perform in the next few years, CIM Lavasa is optimistic about the future of management education in the country, in view of their record of accomplishment and anticipated future economic growth that is expected to create more job opportunities for fresh post graduates in Management.

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