New Age Courses at XIM University, Bhubaneshwar, are in Tune with the Changing Priorities of Management Education

Founded in the 1980s, Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB) is a premier B school, consistently ranked among the Top 20 in the country. In 2013, it became a full-fledged university offering a host of programs and courses attuned to the needs of the time. In the last 10 years, it has grown by leaps and bounds with its student intake growing from a measly 240 to a staggering 3, 500 now. XIM University has pioneered the introduction of several new age programs, many of which have later been adopted by leading IIMs वof the country. In an interview with Outlook, Dr. Fr. Antony R Uvari, SJ ,Vice Chancellor, XIM University, Bhubaneswar, talks about XIM’s journey so far and the road ahead. Excerpts:

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Q The B-school arena is getting crowded by the day. With the IIMs to contend with on the one hand and new age B schools on the other, how has XIM managed to hold its own and constantly improve its standing?

We have been pioneers in many things, to begin with. Today, we are talking about social media, AI, weather science and other such technology driven stuff. But we were the first institute in the country to introduce the Academic Information System (AIS) in the late 1990s. Today, it is called Learning Management System (LMS). We were the first to go online in all our administrative and academic activities in the early 1990s. XIMB was the architect of the AIS, which was bought by most of the leading IIMs as well as XLRI. They borrowed it from us and introduced it in their campuses. You go to the Lucknow IIM, the Kozhikode IIM or the XLRI, you will find the AIS which we pioneered. But we did not stop after creating the AIS. We constantly improvised on the system over the last 25 years and now use what is called the University Management System (UMS). We have managed to keep pace with the changing priorities of business education by innovating constantly.

Q How has XIM grown in the years since its inception in the late 1980s?