The first year equips students with a thorough grounding in management fundamentals. Compulsory core courses cover the key tools, concepts and analytical skills used in all major functional areas as well as subjects like business strategy and business ethics which cut across disciplines.
The Curriculum Design Committee identified the following areas to be covered by the core courses:
Foundation:These courses focus on developing the knowledge and analytical ability that support the understanding of the functional areas of business studies.
Functional: These courses cover the fundamentals of business and management studies and equip the students to be in a position to understand advanced concepts.
Integrative: Integrative courses enable a student to understand how to develop a holistic understanding of organizations and the problems they face and see how different functions relate to each other.
Skill Building: A management professional is required to develop and apply a variety of skills and use multiple tools which enable decision making and better management. Picking up and sharpening these skills is a life-long process and courses designed for building skills get students started on this journey.
Perspective: In addition to being able to integrate their fundamental and functional knowledge, management professionals are also expected to be able to look at a business from multiple perspectives. Some of the core courses in the first year help students to develop and use these perspectives in their professional life.
Students complete a two-month corporate internship with companies at different locations and work on projects and tasks similar to those they would be engaged in when they graduate and get recruited. The companies where they complete their internships are also in many cases the same companies that would recruit them after the completion of their course. The summer internship is another example of the application orientation part of IIMU’s mission manifesting itself in the curriculum. Students learn by doing in the internship and get a first-hand experience of corporate life.
There is a rigorous evaluation process which includes:
After students complete the core courses, the second year gives them a chance to tailor their curriculum according to their personal interests and career objectives. Electives are offered in all of the major functional areas along with multi-disciplinary courses like Entrepreneurship and Management Consulting.
One of the elective options is the innovative International Business in Practice (IBP). Teams of 5-6 students undertake a two-week live project in the offices of a multinational company in locations like Bangkok, Dubai,and Singapore.
In addition to a wide choice of electives, students also have the option of undertaking a Course of Independent Study (CIS) which allows them to probe deeper into a subject of their interest. Under faculty supervision, the CIS provides an opportunity to apply the tools, techniques, skills and concepts they have learnt to the study of actual problems through field studies, computer-based analysis and library research. One CIS is equivalent to a 4 credit course or 30 hours of classroom teaching and students can take up to 2 CIS in their second year.
As well, a compulsory course in the second year is Capstone which emphasizes the philosophy of immersion and application orientation. Capstone uses technology to create simulated decision-making scenarios within which students can test their understanding of the business environment.
Some students also spend one full semester abroad as a part of the Student Exchange Program (STEP).
The method of instruction varies for different courses with case studies being the predominant method for most. Apart from that, group and individual projects, student presentations, simulation games, etc. are used. Many courses bring in industry experts to integrate classroom learning with industry practice.
Student academic engagement at IIMU is a part of the course design ensuring that students are academically involved in three phases: before classes, within the classroom and after the class.
Before classes: A majority of the classes are based on a discussion around a specific topic assigned for each class. Before the start of each trimester, students are given the material for each class and are expected to read all the material before the class and have a preliminary discussion in their study groups.
In Class: During the discussion in class, it is expected that students will participate and make a significant contribution. The faculty monitors the students' contributions to the discussion and ensures equitable distribution of opportunity for all students to participate over the duration of the course.
Students with prior work experience have an opportunity to bring perspectives from their work experience to the classroom which substantially enriches the discussions.
After Class: The students'ability to assimilate the discussion in class and its nuances is tested in various ways:
