India’s Premier B-school Goa Institute of Management (GIM) has opened its doors to its students. Physical classes coupled with online sessions are slated to commence shortly. Over the past year due to the pandemic students and faculty have interacted only through a virtual platform. However, students have now started returning to the splendid 50-acre campus in Sankhali. Over 300 students have already arrived with more students are due to return in a phased manner in the coming weeks.
Dr. Ajit Parulekar, Director, GIM shared his views on having students back on campus, “In a management school, the core of learning happens within teams where the faculty and students exchange ideas, discuss and deliberate on it. We are delighted to have students back on campus.” He added, “From our end we are ensuring all SOPs are being maintained strictly. Our massive campus allows us to socially distance ourselves responsibly while also engaging with each other”.
Additionally, students and faculty who returned to campus have had to be fully vaccinated and submit a vaccination certificate, negative RT-PCR test report and signed undertaking to follow quarantine norms as well as covid protocols prior to returning to campus he added. On arrival students have to mandatorily quarantine themselves for seven days before venturing into the outdoors. Even after the quarantine period, students are not allowed to leave the campus or have visitors from outside enter into the campus to meet.
Situated amidst the magnificent Sahyadri hills, the massive state of the art 50-acre campus will act as a bio-bubble for the 1000+ students who are part of the various management programmes. GIM has set up a campus war-room with adequate nurses and healthcare practitioners equipped with oximeters, isolation rooms, pharmacy and ambulance services round the clock.
GIM offers four specialised programmes for the full time MBA aspirants. Post Graduate Diploma in Management -PGDM, PGDM – Healthcare Management, PGDM – Big Data Analytics and PGDM-BIFS. Classes for the academic year 2021-2022 have commenced online in the month of July and the institute is aiming to schedule classes in a blended (in-person and virtual) mode soon.
GIM also offers a three-year Part Time Post Graduate Diploma in Management for Executives, the programme is known as PGDM-PT (eMBA) and has classes scheduled over the weekend throughout the year at its strategically located Cujira campus in the suburbs of Panjim. This course is designed for working professionals, government officials and businessmen in Goa who attend weekend classes.
The students who are on campus are delighted to be back and have shared their enthusiasm by posting videos on a popular social media platform called Instagram. Heeral Rawal, a student of the PGDM, batch of 2020-2022 says “I am thrilled to be back on campus after returning from my home in Jharkhand. The experience of living and learning on campus is unparallel”. Another student, Osiya Gupta from the PGDM, batch of 2020-2022 has returned to the campus after being double vaccinated. She said, “I’ve just gotten vaccinated and have travelled from Indore to the GIM campus in Goa. I am ecstatic to see the beautiful campus and experience student life in GIM once again”. Nikhil Chandwani, a student from Goa in the PGDM, batch of 2020 – 2022 also showed his excitement by sharing a short reel on Instagram.
GIM was recently rated amongst the top four B-schools in the world who are “BEST FOR THE WORLD” by the Positive Impact Rating 2021. GIM follows a unique pedagogy and blended learning process which makes it a path breaking experience for its students. While the 65+ core faculty members with strong credentials strive to apply innovative techniques, the visiting faculty members, drawn from the industry and leading MBA colleges, ensure that the courses are in sync with the latest industry requirements. Loaded with modern learning tools and resources, GIM is at par with leading MBA institutes in the World. GIM constantly strives to stay aligned to its maxim as a place where learning never stops.
