Indian Institute of Management Bodh Gaya: How the new IIM is slowly becoming a major B-school

A vast tract of land filled with shrubs and the occasional centuries-old tree. Two four-storied dilapi-dated hostel buildings occupied by former students of Magadh University, and one building with two and a half rooms, in equally poor condition. This was the scene that greeted Vinita S. Sahay when she took charge of the newly-founded Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bodh Gaya in February 2018.

Inaugurated in August 2015, the B-school had been mentored by the premier IIM Calcutta for nearly two and a half years following its inception. But there were teething issues. No full-time director. No senior administrative staff. No permanent faculty. Plus, a joust with occupants of two hostels belonging to Magadh University, who refused to move despite the 118-acre land having been transferred to the institute. By the time Sahay took over, and when it became an institute in its own right, the first batch of MBA students (2015-17) had already graduated.

Much has changed since those difficult initial days—the old campus building has been renovated to house administrative departments and temporary classrooms (the permanent ones are still being built), a sprawling new academic building, a sports complex, students’ hostels and faculty quarters, all in keeping with the ethos of the land where the Buddha attained enlightenment (more on that later). And yes, it has taken possession of the two hostels. “There were multiple other issues. We had a very, very tough time,” Sahay now recalls with a smile, revealing a sense of collective achievement. At times, the institute had to rely on the local administration for help, which included calling in the police to assist it in taking over the buildings.

Overcoming these initial barriers proved crucial for the fledgeling institute. Starting with less than 40 students per batch under its regular full-time MBA programme, it now has nearly 300 students for the 2023-25 session. It managed to place all its students in the 2016-18 batch and since then the number of job offers and size of packages have swelled. Over the past four years—between the 2018-20 batch and recently graduated 2021-23 one—the median remuneration has jumped from Rs 9 lakh to Rs 16 lakh. In 2023, over 80 companies visited the campus for recruitment, up from 30 in 2020, and the highest package has nearly tripled in 2023 to `48.58 lakh from Rs 16.25 lakh three years ago. Such has been its performance that it has broken into the top 50 of the BTMDRA India’s Best B-schools Survey 2023 on debut.

VIHARA STYLE

Located on an arterial highway connecting the Grand Trunk Road and state capital Patna, the campus, says Sahay, is probably one of the few among IIMs to be situated inside the main town. There are other attractions, too. It is a locale of great religious import across the world—from the Phalgu river to the Mahabodhi Temple Complex, the core pilgrimage centre for millions of Buddhists around the world. Perhaps because of that renown and the heavy tourist presence, the town is considered among the safest in the state and is well connected by air (Gaya International Airport), road and rail—making it easier for students and faculty to make it their home.

Now, about imbibing the ethos of its surroundings, the institute has incorporated many Buddhist concepts into its structure and functioning. The new academic building, for instance, has incorporated the traditional Buddhist architectural style of an educational institute or monastery, and has been designed in the Vihara style—with rooms and staircases placed around common courtyards dotted with trees and sitting areas where students from different courses can mingle.

“People dream of such courtyards and the banyan tree (like the Bodhi Tree). We will also place statues of two icons—one of Chanakya and one of the Buddha—on either side of the main courtyard, symbolising the concept of ‘from strategy to mindfulness’. After all, mindfulness is the heritage of this place,” says Sahay.

FRUITS OF LABOUR

To leverage its growing stature and to address the demand-supply gap in the management courses, the institute has increased its offerings. In line with other newer IIMs like the one in Raipur from where Sahay was brought in, it launched a five-year Integrated Programme in Management that includes three years of graduation, followed by a two-year MBA, in 2021. While it started offering its PhD programme in 2019, beginning 2023-25, it will launch two specialised MBA programmes—Digital Business Management and Hospital and Healthcare Management. Together, these courses will take its total student count on campus to over 1,100 this year.

The institute, which operates autonomously now, has 50 permanent faculty members and 18 more will join soon. It is also looking to improve diversity on campus. According to Sabyasachi Mohapatra, Chairperson of its career development cell, apart from encouraging female students, the institute is focussed on ensuring that 30 per cent of students are from non-technology backgrounds. While the current ratio of freshers to experienced students stands at 50:50, from the upcoming session the share of the latter is set to rise as the institute is looking to increase the average work experience per batch to 36 months from 24 months at present.

CONVINCING PITCH

“The perception was that it would take 10-12 years to set up an institute like this, but we had to shake that belief by constantly pushing for a speedier response from the local authorities. We had to make them believe that an institution like this can be up and running in two-three years,” says Sahay, who was recently reappointed as Director after completing her five-year stint.

It was not just the mindset of the locals that needed a shake-up; parents of aspiring students had to be convinced too. In May 2018, barely two months after Sahay took charge, the first female student enrolled in the institute’s MBA programme. It took a lot of persuasion and a personal assurance from the Director to convince the family of the student, who hailed from Uttarakhand, to allow her to join an institute that did not even have a girls’ hostel at the time. “It took me four and a half hours (to convince them). We made them talk to some of our students from Uttarakhand, [and] I gave them a personal assurance about her safety and well-being,” Sahay recalls. Those efforts paid off. In the next batch, the number rose to three, and it has now scaled to 30 per cent of the total strength on campus.

It’s this habit of breaking the status quo that’s one of the reasons that Sahay chose to extend her tenure at the institute. She feels the task is unfinished and that IIM Bodh Gaya’s journey towards excellence has only just begun.