The city & its world class institute:
I got introduced to the city of Kozhikode during my PGDM days in IIM Kozhikode from 2009 to 2011. One irritating question has ever since kept on hammering my head. Why the hell an institute of national importance with global ambition and accreditation was set up in a place like Kozhikode, which is devoid of any charm of a modern city, din & bustle of an economically active town area or flavour of a cosmopolitan urban civilization. Kozhikode didnt appear to have either of these characteristics despite being the 3rd biggest city of a state which proudly claims to have more than 90% literacy rate and boasts to be one of the most urbanised state. While all this statistics and reality check find no alignment, setting up a premiere management institute in such place did raise eye brows for many students like me who have a general perception towards the management institute's location, drawing references from the best well known management schools across the world. The proximity to industry, down town area, cluster of world class companies or hyper-active economic zone and its amenities is what perceived to be one of the key location criteria for a premiere management school, if not a technology or engineering school.
The city of Kozhikode seemed to have lagged behind in all these criteria to play host to a premiere management school in the country. But the institute, IIM Kozhikode, fought against all the relative disadvantages of not being close to a metro or economically vibrant and urbanized region, leveraging its sheer brand value of being one of the IIMs in the country. Its all primary stakeholders: faculty and student body have ignored this disadvantage and utilized it in their own favour. The scenic beauty of the location emerged as a major motivating factor for a world class management education. The campus, situated on the two hillocks, surrounded by western ghat range, offers its stakeholders a great healthy place to focus on management education & research. Personality development and a holistic leadership development approach for the student is also not a far-fetched idea in this campus, earning fame as one of the most beautiful and oxy-rich campus of higher education. It's also true that its not possible to build a sprawling campus of close to 100 acres area in a metro area or even closer to one.
View Larger Map
The concerns:
But on the other hand, The institute has felt the disadvantages of being far away from the most developed and connected urban areas of the country. Its stakeholders have felt the need of proximity of a metro area beaming with economic activities and a cluster of world class companies.During two years, just after the macro-economic situation started limping back on track, the Placement cell & Industry interaction cell had found it difficult to accommodate all the companies and its delegates on a preferred date because of the limited air connectivity of the city of Kozhikode with other big metros and important cities of the country. For example, 1 or 2 flights only connect Delhi or Mumbai or Bangalore. Despite all poor connectivity, company delegates from different parts of the country still flock in, thanks to the brand value and reputation of such institutes. But the number of the those delegates wouldn't be significantly less who forgo the idea of visiting a far-off campus by making up for the voids from well connected campuses. Not only the poor connectivity has been the spoil sport in this case, but also the fact that no prominent company or organization has their office within 200 km radius of the campus, let alone in the city itself, has been quite a concern. Its not illogical then to think that companies with local offices would find no reason for not visiting the campus. I don't expect the head of the recruitment team of a multinational consulting firm or an investment bank or a FMCG company to just drop in on his/her way back home! But this may be the case for many management institutes enjoying a location advantage, despite being an average B school on the parameter of student & education quality.
Because of the limited connectivity with other important parts of the country, regular and easy interaction with other stake holders of the management education circle has been limited. Students from this institute wouldn't dare to think of visiting other management B schools for attending any competitions easily. Likewise, students from other prominent B schools too have paid minimal visits to the campus, in-spite of having the desire to do so.
Another very important stakeholder in a B school community is its alumni base and its equation with the institute. Though the institute is more than 15 years old now and has churned out many batches of alumni, the turn out ratio from the alumni base in various events and particularly Alumni-targeted events, have not been very encouraging. When I visited the campus in Jan 2013, during its Alumni-interaction event, I was taken aback by the very small turn out ratio of the alumni from various batches. It is not the case that the alumni wouldnt want to come back to their Alma Mater even for a day's visit but probably it is again to do with the poor connectivity of the city of Kozhikode. While the institute is situated in Kerala, less than 1 % of its alumni would be based out of Kerala and with over 90% of the alumni being based out of primary Metro locations such as Mumbai, NCR or Bangalore. Coming to Kozhikode even for 1 day would mean 3 days of leaves considering long hours of journey. Whoever comes to the campus, s/he probably plans out the visit as a part of a family trip to Kerala. As it turns out to be an expensive one, the visit would be once in 5-10 years or a lifetime may be! I don't expect that I would go visit my campus by taking a short assignment from my office in and around the city for a couple of days. But this is the case for many B schools, enjoying the constant visit, influence and support of one of the most valuable asset for a B School: its alumni base!
But despite all its disadvantages, IIM K has kept up its prominence in the management education circuit in the country by not only providing world class education but also arranging for an enviable placement track record of its graduates and a steady and healthy industry interaction cell for over the years.
The silver lining:
The recent surge in the economic activities in and around the city of Kozhikode is proving to be phenomenal. Though the visible change in the last 3 years has particularly been limited only to the either side of the National Highway 17 connecting Kozhikode with other prominent cities of Kerala like: Kochi, Tiruvananthapuram and also with other major cities like Mangalore from the state of Karnataka, the changes in skyline look quite promising for a brighter future. Even the alacrity at which the development has taken place in the last 3 / 4 years it deserves to be highlighted as a great story of a recent economic development starting from the scratch. The high rise buildings, office and residential complexes with swanky look and feel, in comparison with a rustic- village like condition a couple of years back, bring a bagful of hope for the city and its people. The coming up of such buildings is bringing a good number of IT/ITES companies home. As its a heartening news for the local talent as well as vast talent pool of Kerala, it has certainly got good news for the IIM K fraternity as well. All the above-mentioned shortcomings of a location disadvantage would be overcome in near future gradually. It's wonderful to imagine how further prominence the institute would gain out of the surge in economic development the Kozhikode city has started witnessing.
The links to the relevant news article on this development:
1. Kerala IT
2. How the Kozhikode cyber park would connect with West Asia
3. IIM K official website
I got introduced to the city of Kozhikode during my PGDM days in IIM Kozhikode from 2009 to 2011. One irritating question has ever since kept on hammering my head. Why the hell an institute of national importance with global ambition and accreditation was set up in a place like Kozhikode, which is devoid of any charm of a modern city, din & bustle of an economically active town area or flavour of a cosmopolitan urban civilization. Kozhikode didnt appear to have either of these characteristics despite being the 3rd biggest city of a state which proudly claims to have more than 90% literacy rate and boasts to be one of the most urbanised state. While all this statistics and reality check find no alignment, setting up a premiere management institute in such place did raise eye brows for many students like me who have a general perception towards the management institute's location, drawing references from the best well known management schools across the world. The proximity to industry, down town area, cluster of world class companies or hyper-active economic zone and its amenities is what perceived to be one of the key location criteria for a premiere management school, if not a technology or engineering school.
The city of Kozhikode seemed to have lagged behind in all these criteria to play host to a premiere management school in the country. But the institute, IIM Kozhikode, fought against all the relative disadvantages of not being close to a metro or economically vibrant and urbanized region, leveraging its sheer brand value of being one of the IIMs in the country. Its all primary stakeholders: faculty and student body have ignored this disadvantage and utilized it in their own favour. The scenic beauty of the location emerged as a major motivating factor for a world class management education. The campus, situated on the two hillocks, surrounded by western ghat range, offers its stakeholders a great healthy place to focus on management education & research. Personality development and a holistic leadership development approach for the student is also not a far-fetched idea in this campus, earning fame as one of the most beautiful and oxy-rich campus of higher education. It's also true that its not possible to build a sprawling campus of close to 100 acres area in a metro area or even closer to one.
 |
| IIM Kozhikode campus |
View Larger Map
The concerns:
But on the other hand, The institute has felt the disadvantages of being far away from the most developed and connected urban areas of the country. Its stakeholders have felt the need of proximity of a metro area beaming with economic activities and a cluster of world class companies.During two years, just after the macro-economic situation started limping back on track, the Placement cell & Industry interaction cell had found it difficult to accommodate all the companies and its delegates on a preferred date because of the limited air connectivity of the city of Kozhikode with other big metros and important cities of the country. For example, 1 or 2 flights only connect Delhi or Mumbai or Bangalore. Despite all poor connectivity, company delegates from different parts of the country still flock in, thanks to the brand value and reputation of such institutes. But the number of the those delegates wouldn't be significantly less who forgo the idea of visiting a far-off campus by making up for the voids from well connected campuses. Not only the poor connectivity has been the spoil sport in this case, but also the fact that no prominent company or organization has their office within 200 km radius of the campus, let alone in the city itself, has been quite a concern. Its not illogical then to think that companies with local offices would find no reason for not visiting the campus. I don't expect the head of the recruitment team of a multinational consulting firm or an investment bank or a FMCG company to just drop in on his/her way back home! But this may be the case for many management institutes enjoying a location advantage, despite being an average B school on the parameter of student & education quality.
Because of the limited connectivity with other important parts of the country, regular and easy interaction with other stake holders of the management education circle has been limited. Students from this institute wouldn't dare to think of visiting other management B schools for attending any competitions easily. Likewise, students from other prominent B schools too have paid minimal visits to the campus, in-spite of having the desire to do so.
Another very important stakeholder in a B school community is its alumni base and its equation with the institute. Though the institute is more than 15 years old now and has churned out many batches of alumni, the turn out ratio from the alumni base in various events and particularly Alumni-targeted events, have not been very encouraging. When I visited the campus in Jan 2013, during its Alumni-interaction event, I was taken aback by the very small turn out ratio of the alumni from various batches. It is not the case that the alumni wouldnt want to come back to their Alma Mater even for a day's visit but probably it is again to do with the poor connectivity of the city of Kozhikode. While the institute is situated in Kerala, less than 1 % of its alumni would be based out of Kerala and with over 90% of the alumni being based out of primary Metro locations such as Mumbai, NCR or Bangalore. Coming to Kozhikode even for 1 day would mean 3 days of leaves considering long hours of journey. Whoever comes to the campus, s/he probably plans out the visit as a part of a family trip to Kerala. As it turns out to be an expensive one, the visit would be once in 5-10 years or a lifetime may be! I don't expect that I would go visit my campus by taking a short assignment from my office in and around the city for a couple of days. But this is the case for many B schools, enjoying the constant visit, influence and support of one of the most valuable asset for a B School: its alumni base!
But despite all its disadvantages, IIM K has kept up its prominence in the management education circuit in the country by not only providing world class education but also arranging for an enviable placement track record of its graduates and a steady and healthy industry interaction cell for over the years.
The silver lining:
The recent surge in the economic activities in and around the city of Kozhikode is proving to be phenomenal. Though the visible change in the last 3 years has particularly been limited only to the either side of the National Highway 17 connecting Kozhikode with other prominent cities of Kerala like: Kochi, Tiruvananthapuram and also with other major cities like Mangalore from the state of Karnataka, the changes in skyline look quite promising for a brighter future. Even the alacrity at which the development has taken place in the last 3 / 4 years it deserves to be highlighted as a great story of a recent economic development starting from the scratch. The high rise buildings, office and residential complexes with swanky look and feel, in comparison with a rustic- village like condition a couple of years back, bring a bagful of hope for the city and its people. The coming up of such buildings is bringing a good number of IT/ITES companies home. As its a heartening news for the local talent as well as vast talent pool of Kerala, it has certainly got good news for the IIM K fraternity as well. All the above-mentioned shortcomings of a location disadvantage would be overcome in near future gradually. It's wonderful to imagine how further prominence the institute would gain out of the surge in economic development the Kozhikode city has started witnessing.
 |
| Kozhikode Cyber Park on NH17 (pic taken from a car on 19th Jan 2014) |
The links to the relevant news article on this development:
1. Kerala IT
2. How the Kozhikode cyber park would connect with West Asia
3. IIM K official website