Type Autonomous Chairman T. Nand Kumar Academic staff 25 Undergraduate tuition and fees 475,000 INR (2017) | Established 1979 Director Dr. R.C.Natarajan Phone 02692 260 391 Founded 1979 | |
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Motto "सा विद्या या विमुक्तये"(Sanskrit) Similar MICA, Indian Institute of Foreign T, Xavier Institute of Manage, Nirma University, Loyola Institute of Business Profiles | ||
Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) is an autonomous institution located in Anand in Gujarat, India with the mandate of contributing to the professional management of rural organisations. IRMA was founded with the belief, borne out by Dr. Verghese Kurien’s work in the dairy co-operatives which revolutionized the dairy industry in the country, that the key to effective rural development is professional management.
Contents
- Milaap 12 institute of rural management anand irma
- History
- Philosophy
- Evolution of 2 year programme in Rural Management
- Program in Rural Management
- Fellow Program in Rural Management
- CRM
- Certificate Programme in Dairy Management CPDM
- Programs
- Criticism
- Dr Verghese Kurien Memorial lecture
- Campus Facilities
- Business
- Social development
- Development Management
- Information Technology
- Rural management
- Journalism
- Creative writing film making performing arts and other art forms
- Politics
- Academia
- References
It was founded at the initiative of NDDB (National Dairy Development Board) and the support of government of India, government of Gujarat and Swiss Development Co-operation. IRMA works with co-operatives, NGOs (non-governmental organisation), governments, Indian national and international agencies.
IRMA provides management training, support and research facilities to students committed to rural development; in this process it has brought within its ambit several co-operatives, non-government organisations, government development agencies, international development organisations and funding agencies.
Milaap 12 institute of rural management anand irma
History
Dr. Michael Halse, then a Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO) planning adviser with NDDB, was one of the people, responsible for conceptualizing this new discipline of rural management. Another person involved with the institute was the Organizational behavior academic Dr. Kamala Chowdhary, who also served briefly as the Director of the Institute and played a key mentoring role in its formative years. The former director of Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad Mr.Ravi J. Matthai also contributed; through his documented learnings from the Jawaja experiment. Mr. Ravi Mathai had stressed the need for a new type of management education, different from the conventional Indian Institute of Management one: for working on rural development problems. The Institute was initially budgeted as a center for management and consultancy for rural development, under the second phase of the Operation Flood program. Under the chairmanship of Dr.Verghese Kurien; IRMA evolved quickly to enlarge its mandate to professionalize management of rural producers’ organisations and create a body of knowledge in the field of rural management.
One of the pioneering and senior faculty in the initial years, was anthropologist and equity-feminist scholar Leela Dube. One of her studies through field work in five South East Asian countries, put the organisation on the international social science research map.
Beginning with co-operatives funded by NDDB, IRMA has reached out to the rural sector through development organizations engaged with issues of rural life such as natural resource management (especially water and forests) rural health, local governance institution, livelihood and migration, microfinance, and deploying IT for rural areas.
Since inception, the focus of IRMA has been on strengthening the management capacities in non-governmental organisations and organisations that are controlled by users of the services, rather than the conventional capital investor centered business corporate. The institute claims that it is the branding and commitment to a unique field of management, makes its identity unique among management institutes.
Philosophy
IRMA was founded with the belief that the key to effective rural development is professional management. Professionalising the management of rural organisations calls for matching the unmet needs of the sector with the techniques and skills of management professionals. Linking the two are the ‘rural managers’ prepared by IRMA through its two-year postgraduate diploma in rural management (PRM), a humble alternative instead of conforming to the general nation wide Masters program.
Evolution of 2-year programme in Rural Management
The Programme in Rural Management (PRM) was designed as a 12-month course to be followed by a year’s apprenticeship in a rural producers’ organisation, funded by Operation Flood. The programme evolved into the present two-year postgraduate diploma. Dr. Leela Dube, a sociologist, pioneered a course for the first batch in 1980, termed then "Rural Environment"; a foundation course which attempted to push a "business management techniques programme design" towards asking questions about village society. It was also designed as a preparatory course to the "village field work segment"; which followed after the first semester. This pedagogy was an innovation for business schools in India. This pedagogy structure was only available to MSW (Master of Social Work) programs in India which gained its perspective from immersionism, where the student gets involved as a sort of a field researcher, in the events and people in a village. The integration of a "fieldwork" segment, into a postgraduate business management curriculum, had never been attempted in any conventional management schools. The IIMs (Indian Institute of Management), and other university sponsored MBA (Master of Business Administration) never adopted the practicality of practicing theory in respective fields of management and testing its evidence within Indian organisational realities. This structure is followed by IRMA with successfulness; the course has been developed further and split, for example the 2012 programme structure, offered three half credit courses in the first semester: termed "Rural Society and Polity","Rural Livelihood Systems", and "Rural Research Methods"; and is structured as a preparation to the village field work segment that follows. The present structure of the field work segment, which follows after the first term, is a six-week exposure to "rural reality".
Another innovation of IRMA, was the introduction of three internship segments - instead of the normal one - as in conventional MBA programmes. This emphasis on the practical - appears to be intended to create a learning philosophy of a Praxis (process). The validity of classroom theories and teaching, is sought to be put to actual test by PRM (Programme in Rural Management) students- through applying these theories and learning, to shape managerial action in rural organisations. Presently, the first internship segment, named Village Fieldwork Segment, is after the completion of first term of education in IRMA. By the end of first year in PRM, students have the experience of three academic terms and a fieldwork segment. The beginning of second year is marked with the second internship segment named Development Internship Segment. This internship is for six weeks and is organized to equip the participants with the operational know-how of developing organizations. The third internship named Management traineeship segment, is for seven weeks, and is scheduled after the fourth term.
The PRM programme has grown from the initial batch size of 48 in the first batch (1980-1982) to 180 in the latest batch of PRM36, after receiving approval from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
This academic innovation of switching between classroom theory sessions and practical work in villages and organizations, seems to have been picked-up by some other management schools. The two-year Post Graduate Programme in Rural Management of the Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar was the second management programme to be built on a similar intent and approach, it is now an autonomous School of Rural Management (XSRM) of Xavier University, Bhubaneswar. The two year postgraduate programme diploma of the Indian Institute of Forest Management , established by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India also seems to follow a similar pedagogy. More recently, the Development Management Institute seems to have been set up with the explicit mandate of replicating the pedagogy of the Institute:with the active support of the Rural Development Department, Government of Bihar. The two year postgraduate programme of development management of Tata-Dhan Academy also seems to follow a similar pedagogy of learning.
Program in Rural Management
The programme prepares young managers to undertake responsibilities in the rural sector, development organizations and other organizations engaged in rural sector. It is a two-year residential programme leading to a postgraduate Diploma in Rural Management (PGDRM).Currently,180 seats are offered in this programme.
Fellow Program in Rural Management
This doctoral-level residential programme is for people who need specialized knowledge, skills and attitudes for positions in the co-operatives and development organizations. Each participant of the programme receives a fellowship and contingency grant.
CRM
CRM is a one-year course for professionals working in cooperatives, development organizations and in other rural sector organizations.
Certificate Programme in Dairy Management (CPDM)
A Certificate Programme in Dairy Management (CPDM) of one-year duration is offered starting with the first programme in November 2008. IRMA and the sponsoring organisation GCMMF selected the candidates jointly. The programme is open to cooperative dairy federations and unions; other milk producers organisations and dairy development promotional organisations form the next batch onwards.
The programme is managed by a committee of five faculty members from IRMA, who are responsible for curriculum development, and engagement of faculty from external and internal sources.
Later on in the year 2012, the programme came to an abrupt end.
Programs
Criticism
Lack of a credible syllabus with course descriptions and detailed plan of study that reflects national standards is an issue that the IT field and Faculty has to overcome to get published for transparency and informed decisions for future students. A longitudinal planned study on whether the ever increasing course list (Number of courses vs. Qualitative courses, considering human factors) reflects the output of graduates or strains to limitations is also a growing concern that is considered to address with the rising branding of the institution.
Dr. Verghese Kurien Memorial lecture
To commemorate the memory of the founder of the Institute, an annual Dr. Verghese Kurien Memorial Lecture, has been instituted from 2012: to be held on his birth anniversary. The first lecture in 2012 was delivered by M. S. Swaminathan. The second lecture in 2013 was delivered by Vijay Shankar Vyas. The third lecture in 2014 was delivered by the Governor of Reserve Bank of India, Raghuram Rajan. The fourth annual lecture in 2015 was delivered by the Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India, Arvind Subramanian on 21 November 2015
Campus Facilities
The campus is fully residential and equipped with student hostels, mess, lecture halls, seminar rooms, library, faculty and administrative offices, auditorium, executive training and development centre, faculty and staff housing, dispensary, and other support facilities. The IRMA staff co-operative store caters to the residents’ daily necessities. Faculty and staff live in the campus quarters provided, thereby providing facilities for interaction with the participants beyond classrooms.
A co-operative store on the campus is open in the evenings six days a week and provides all the items required by the residents on the campus. It is stocked with provisions and stationery.
A campus dispensary supplies medication. The medical officer visits the campus for an hour every day, and a staff nurse resides on the campus to attend to medical emergencies.