Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Directors of five IIMs deliberated on Covid-19 challenges, which the management education is facing, on first day of IIM Indore’s Conference on Excellence in Research and Education (CERE), which commenced virtually on Friday.
The three-day conference’s theme is, Management Metamorphosis: Living with the pandemic. Over 400 participants, guests and delegates attended the inaugural function virtually.
In his welcome address, IIM Indore director Prof Himanshu Rai said CERE 2021 aims to focus on the challenges in management education amid pandemic. A Lifetime Achievement Award for Research Excellence will be introduced in the conference, which will be declared on last day of conference on June 20.
The highlight of first day of the conference was a panel discussion with directors of four IIMs namely, IIM Raipur director Prof Bharat Bhasker, IIM Tiruchirappalli director Professor Pawan Kumar Singh, IIM Bangalore director Prof Rishikesha T Krishnan and IIM Ranchi director Prof Shailendra Singh who expressed their views on the topic.
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The session was moderated by IIM Indore director Rai who said Covid has impacted everyone’s life and every sector including the education.
“We had to shift from offline to online mode so that learning does not suffer. Pandemic taught me to be compassionate - to understand that if the educational institutes have the facilities to adapt to the technology, it is not necessary that the students living in the remote areas will also be comfortable with this change.
They may not have the facilities and may not have the equipment to continue their learning with the speed we deliver the lectures. We ensured that the lectures were recorded and made available to these students, so that they don’t lag behind,” he said.
Bhasker shed light on the fact that all the industries are now moving towards artificial intelligence and machine learning. “The challenge is not enhancement in technology, its about the fact that we are not able to move as fast as the technology. We need to find a way so that the robots, humans and humanoids are able to co-exist,” he said.
Speaking about management education, Pawan Kumar said challenges in education system existed before pandemic, hence it is also the time to update solutions to those challenges. “Offline and online education both have challenges. But educational institutions need to focus on problems and groom students in a way that they are able to face changing world with strength and skills,” he said.
Krishnan focused on digital transformation and how the increase in data will help in better research. “We now have abundant data and we understand the importance of data analytics. Hence, with data technology, the educational institutes now need to focus on providing more specialised and tech-driven programmes,” he noted.
Shailendra Singh talked about declining number of students in exchange programmes amid the pandemic. “The educational institutes now need to focus on providing a revised curriculum, which enhances the student’s skills. This pandemic has encouraged us to look for opportunities and provided a food for thought about how nature has made us thrive, not just survive,” he said.
Four workshops were also held on first day that provided a platform to participants to develop their research and publication skills. A workshop on Paper Development was conducted by Prof Abrar Ali Saiyed, Ozyegin University.
Another workshop on Conducting Case Research on Entrepreneurship was conducted by Prof Anjan Ghosh, Narxoz Business School, Board of Director-Paul R Lawrence Fellowships.
A workshop conducted by Prof Abhishek Srivastava, IIM Kashipur, focused on Publication Tips wherein he shared insightful tips with the participants to enhance their publishing skills. The fourth workshop was conducted on Experimental Research wherein Prof Sudipta Mandal, faculty, IIM Indore, talked about nuances of Experimental Research.
On second day, a workshop will be held on Case Teaching by Prof Srinivas Gunta, IIM Indore. A plenary session on topic, Impact of Covid19 on Research in Management, will also take place.
