Professor Debashis Chatterjee is the Director at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Kozhikode. He is credited with transforming IIM Kozhikode into an institute of national impact and global recognition. He has taught leadership at several prestigious academic institutes for over two decades. He has been awarded the prestigious Fulbright Fellowship twice for Pre-Doctoral and Postdoctoral work at Harvard University. His published works include seventeen books that have been translated into several international languages. He has trained more than twenty five thousand managers globally in Fortune 100 Corporations and over fifty thousand school principals and teachers. He has received accolades and significant recognition as a demonstration of his leadership qualities such as CSR Leading Director Award, Rotary Sake of Honour Award (2013) and Outstanding Director Award, All India Management Scholars (2013).

IIMK

What are the key factors that keep you connected with the education sector?

“Being connected with students in the classroom gives lifelong motivation”

The transformative power of education to pull people from their socioeconomic status to higher special aspirations is immense. This is the most exciting thing about education. If you look at the great learning that I get when I connect with people who walk into our campus, and then we see the transformation process unfolding in a couple of years, they become capable of looking at those job profiles that they would have not imagined looking at when they were in college. So, once you understand what you might describe as the intrinsic pulse of the organization, you can manage the external aspects of it. The point is that when you connect with students, you connect with their worldviews, their perspectives, and mindsets; you know what's happening in the world. 

What are some plans that you are currently designing for your institute’s international affairs?

“Increasing the number of seats and global pool of students by offering world class education at affordable costs”

IIM Kozhikode is introducing a game-changing initiative that will bring in a new admission policy for international students. In addition to what is sanctioned by our regulators, our system will have 50 seats, specifically allocated for international students from LIC countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Malaysia, Vietnam etc. Our accreditation and rankings globally will attract a lot of people to the brand which is ranked 90 worldwide under the ‘Thought Leadership’ category. We are also working out a composite value proposition for foreign students and offering Scholarships to the deserving minds.

How do you tend to establish a healthy environment in your institute?

“By enabling peer group learning, social activities and helping them discover their creative quotient”

Our intellectual capital will be multiplied by social capital, which will give you reputation capital. Our centre for social entrepreneurship encourages entrepreneurialism. In terms of the environment, when an organization produces more than it consumes, that's the true sign of its health. Thus, when you produce more, by creating jobs, you are seen as a giver rather than just an individual seeking a job. The sustainability of an institution, the ecology, or any environment is determined by the number of resources given, over what is taken, and the amount of capacity provided over what is consumed. So, if you follow these principles, the relationship is always healthy.

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How does the institute enhance the skills of the faculty?

“The institution encourages faculty in disseminating knowledge through the technological interface”

The faculties come from different backgrounds, different skill sets, different academic streams. The institution encourages informal spaces where faculty can embrace technology and be at ease with disseminating knowledge through the technological interface. We provide an enabling moment where the faculty is encouraged to take up research assignments that improve their capabilities, research skills, and also their connection with the larger world. I'm happy to share that many of our faculty are now getting their work published in FT50 journals, which is the gold standard of research activity that you associate with academic publishing.

What do you see as the institute’s greatest strengths?

“We are a strong institution because of the relationships we construct with one another”

We are in a small town or hilltop in Kerala that gives us an extraordinarily reflective space for us to create ideas that will shape the thinking world. Our greatest strength as an institution is in the relationships we co-create. We want to create social capital here. We are an institution constantly improving itself intellectually. As a school of ideas, we are proud to attest that we are the first IIM to bring in 54% women, the first IIM to have liberal studies as a management degree, the first IIM to go digital in Asia way back in 2001; even introducing studies for individual education for mid-career executives. We are also the first IIM to create an Indian business museum and the first IIM to get international accreditation, called AMBA, others soon followed suit, thus initiating India into an education destination of global reckoning. 

What are the challenges you faced while uplifting the quality of education?

“Our goal is to re-engineer education and maintain the quality of our teaching”

Our mantras have been digitization, diversification, disruption; the three mantras that matter. And so, when you digitize, you cross the geographical barriers and make functioning easier. IIMs are soon going to be like IIM university so we'll have a much bigger mandate than we had previously. This is a standard business. We also led others into bringing classic disruption of the conventional IIM model which was heavily skewed in favour of male candidates. We spearheaded the initiative of gender equality. And so ensured, that business and business education is not a predominantly male pursuit. It is also not just about one subject. So, we have four new programs for the 25th year. One is MBA liberal studies, MBA finance, postgraduate program in business leadership, one Ph.D. practice track program designed exclusively for the brightest talents among working executives. We have redesigned and reengineered our courses to tackle problems by providing a high-quality business ecosystem which we believe will have a great trickle-down effect for the current system. 

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What valuable advice would you like to give the students?

“Do not follow a passion, identify your purpose and begin from there”

If you want to blindly follow your passion, you will land in a ditch. Passion without reason, without a will, without ingenuity, will not take you to your goal. Follow a purpose and then passion will follow you. Like shadow follows light. Once you pursue something bigger than yourself, your passion will automatically come. Practice is hardware and theory is software. A good theory is built on years and years of practice. You should not shy away from it.