Jammu: Lt Governor Manoj Sinha expressed confidence that the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Jammu will emerge as a globally recognised institution over the next decade, saying its name would be spoken with “immense pride and respect” if it continues to move forward with complete confidence.
However, he said the institute should define its own bold and distinctive ideas and turn the boardrooms of Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh into living case studies, to root research in border economies and frontier development and to ensure every graduate builds something real before they leave campus.
Joining the Board of Governors, faculty, students, alumni and distinguished guests to celebrate a decade of IIM Jammu, the Lt Governor reflected on the Institute’s remarkable journey, noting that it has scripted a new chapter in the region’s academic history.
From its modest beginnings, IIM Jammu has evolved into one of India’s fastest-emerging business schools, charting an ambitious roadmap for the decade ahead, he said.
Recalling that IIM Jammu started a decade ago with just 56 students on a temporary campus on Canal Road, Sinha said the institute has since grown into a nationally recognised and internationally engaged centre for management education.
He observed that IIM Jammu is now the fifth IIM in the country to hold both AMBA and EFMD accreditation, and it has built academic partnerships with institutions across France, Morocco, South Korea, Greece, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Poland, Sweden, Taiwan and, most recently, Brazil. He said the research output at the institute has also expanded sharply, growing from just two published papers in 2017 to close to 350 this year.
“I have seen details of one achievement after another, along with several distinctive initiatives that have become an inspiring example, a role model, for other business schools. I am certain that, in the future, people will remember these achievements as a standard and an ideal, and will seek to emulate them,” he said.
He said IIM Jammu’s growth must now be converted into new discoveries.
“IIM Jammu must ask itself what can be done in the fields of administration, sustainable development and entrepreneurship in the economies of border areas. I believe that great institutions are great because, when the nation faces difficult questions, it looks to them for answers.
“If IIM Jammu continues to move forward with complete confidence over the next ten years, I am certain that its name will be spoken across the world with immense pride and respect,” the Lt Governor said.
He drew lessons from the founding journeys of Harvard, Stanford and Wharton, observing that each built its global reputation around a distinctive idea pursued with patience and consistency.
He said IIM Jammu now stands at a similar inflection point, with decisions taken today likely to shape its identity for decades.
Sinha outlined four priorities for the Institute: developing a distinctive academic identity rooted in Indian business realities; expanding experiential learning through real-world projects; sharpening research on border economies, sustainable development and frontier entrepreneurship; and making placements a nation-building exercise by producing graduates who lead companies and build enterprises.
“Real examinations take place in corporate boardrooms, markets and life itself,” the Lt Governor said, where information is incomplete, opinions differ and there are no ready-made answers.
