Indian Institute of Management Calcutta
Fall 2008
General information
The IIM-C is located in Joka, approximately 15 kilometers outside the city center, but
takes about 45 minutes by taxi to get there due to heavy traffic and bad roads. It was
Indias first business school and is ranked among the top three in the country. The campus
has 7 lakes and lots of trees and nice nature. On the campus there are 4 hostels. The meals
are served in a dinning room and are served at specific times during the day, so
everybody eats together. There is a small shop on campus that has everything you need
for the first days, like shampoo, soap, mosquito repellent etc. We recommend that you
bring your own towels and sheets as if you want to buy them here you must to a shopping
centre 45 min away. There are two ATM machines on campus.
The campus also has a gym that is open specific times during the day. In addition there
are tennis courts, basketball courts, badminton court and a football field. There is no
problem if you like working out.
Teaching situation
You get all the course material for free. All classes are in English, and the students speak
English very well, however they have a heavy Indian accent that takes some time getting
used to. The work loads for the classes are similar to BI’s. The course evaluations vary
from class to class, but they are often based on class presentations, group work,
assignments, class participation, mid-term and end-term. The highest obtainable grade is
A+, while the lowest is C+.
We found the communication between the faculty/administration a bit frustrating, as you
have to constantly search for information yourself. It is not given to you automatically by
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email or on blackboard like in BI. So we found that important information was often
spread by mouth to mouth by other students.
Description of courses
The classes last for 1,5 hours and each class have lectures twice a week.
The attendance for all classes is mandatory, however you can miss 4-5 classes in each
class. If you miss more then this, there will be a grade drop per additional class missed. If
you attend less then 50%, you will fail the course.
Management of Self in Organizations
This class was very interesting and it was my favorite class. It is very popular as well.
However, only 50 students are lucky to get it, 20 exchange students and 30 Indian
students. The professor is very inspiring and makes interesting lectures. You are
evaluated by an individual assignment, group presentation and end-term exam. The
lectures are often used for games and group discussions, role plays etc. I learned a lot
from this class. You are expected to read class material before each class; however the
class material in this class is not heavy reading.
Managerial Effectiveness and Human Values
The class is very interesting and do not require much reading of the course material.
However, it can be hard to follow the lecture as the professor can be quite unstructured in
the way he teaches, and therefore it is hard to understand what he is talking about. But he
is very inspiring and motivated. I do recommend this course because it is interesting, not
very demanding and also I learned a lot. The course is very popular and there are about
80 students in the class, both exchange students and Indian students.
You are evaluated by group presentation, group assignment and quiz.
Strategic Human Resources in Services
This course was a good course and the professor is well prepared and very helpful. There
is a lot of reading material for this class. Before each class we had to read cases that were
being discussed thoroughly in class. The professor expects you to come prepared to class.
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The topics covered in class were HR strategies that should be used in service
organizations. The evaluation is based on class participation, 3 quizzes, group
presentation and end-term exam.
Project Management
This course is lectured by Dr. Subrata Mitra and offers an insight in to the field of Project
Management. Course evaluation consisted of a midterm, two project submissions and an
end term exam. The course is highly technical with a lot of calculations and most
exchange students found the course difficult. The professor is very understanding and
helpful to any enquiries you may have.
Strategic Marketing
This was by far my favorite course and was taught by the inspiring Dr. Ashish Kumar
Banerjee. The professor seldom used the literature from the syllabus, but challenged all
his students to apply marketing, strategy and finance to real life cases. You were graded
on the basis of a presentation and your contribution to class discussions. His analysis of
the financial crisis was mind boggling and you have to sign a contract of confidentiality
before you enlist. If you exchange to IIM-C be sure to register for this course.
Integrated Marketing Communication
Integrated Marketing Communication is lectured by Dr. D.P. Gosh and is concentrated on
the last of the four P’s in marketing. The professor is an original and will cold call you on
any topic he finds appropriate, so come prepared! I found the professor uninspiring and
his methods ancient. The course load is quite heavy with evaluation based on an in-class
quiz, a case evaluation, a project paper and an end term exam.
Seminar on Entrepreneurship
The course consists of two modules. Module A covers concepts and theories of
entrepreneurship, emphasizing the innovative activities of the entrepreneurs. It shows
how to search for innovative opportunities. Module B deals with business plan. You are
required to transform a business idea to a business plan proposal. I found the course
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highly educational and the professor was very helpful with the business plan. Evaluation
is based on a midterm and a final business plan.
Managing New Ventures.
You are expected to be well prepared to class as most lectures are based on cases
available from the PGP-office. Course evaluation is based on two group presentations, a
multiple choice end-term and in-class analysis of such firms as FedEx, Berkshire
Hathaway and Google. This was a very popular course among the Indian students and the
professor is really good. I truly enjoyed this course.
Practical information
Information before we left
We received information by mail one month before the semester started and it contained
most of the information we needed. However, we recommend that you bring at least 15
passport pictures, many copies of your visa, your passport and letter of acceptance
because you need them for all types of registration.
Visa application
You can get a VISA at the Indian embassy in Oslo. In order to do travel outside India and
also back home after the semester as easy as possible, we recommend that you apply for
a multiple entry, tourist VISA that is valid for less than 180 days. This means that you do
not have to register at the Foreign Registration Officer. If you have a tourist VISA for
more than 180 days, or a student VISA, you will have to register. We found that we got
limited information about the registration process, which is complicated and very time
consuming. Many of the other exchange students knew about the ease of having a tourist
VISA less than 180 days, and had applied for this VISA even though they are students.
We recommend that you do the same.
Illness
Kolkata is characterized as a high level Malaria area, and the doctor on campus
recommended exchange students to take pills against it, however not all of the exchange
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students did. One of the exchange students got dengue fever, which is related to malaria.
We both experienced some minor trouble with digestion and cold, but no more then one
would expect. There is a doctor on campus in case you fall ill.
Travel experiences
When we got here we were picked up at the airport by our “buddy”. Each student is
assigned a buddy that takes good care of you the first days. It took us about two hours to
get from the airport to the campus.
Academic calendar
The semester started the first week of September. We arrived a few days before the
semester start just to get to know the place and the other students. The first week is a
shopping week where you choose your classes. The semester ends after the first week of
December. In between you have first one holiday called Durga Puja which is a festival
season for the Indians, and 3 weeks after that you have another week of holiday.
Therefore we had a lot of time to travel.
Accommodation
You will get your own room with a fan. There is no air-conditioning. You will share
toilet, shower and washing machine with the students on the same floor. You can choose
to pay someone to wash your clothes, or you can do it your self. You can also choose to
pay someone to clean your room for a low price. You can bring your own laptop, buy one
through the school or rent one. The rent for a computer is very cheap. The cost of the
room is around 500 NOK for a semester. All rooms are equipped with high-speed internet
and you can easily connect to the IIM-C intranet. If a movie, book, lecture note, song or
software is not available on the intranet, you have probably just misspelled it.
Costs
India in general is very cheap. In addition to the payment for housing you have to pay
about 200kr each month for all meals on campus, which consist of breakfast, lunch,
snacks and dinner. A taxi ride for 45 minutes costs about 30kr. We would like to point
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out that the Indian culture embrases bargaining, so be prepared to use distributive
bargaining on anything from softdrinks to hotelrooms, and do not enter a taxi without
having negotiated a price in advance!
Shopping
Calcutta has many markets where you will find all kinds of things, for a very low price.
New Market is an experience in itself, so be sure to stop by. Also there are a few
shopping centers that are more modern and have “real” stores.
Culture and language
We found the culture in Calcutta very different from what we are used to. First,
everything takes longer time than what one would imagine, due to inefficiency and one
just has to be patient. The educated Indians speak English very well; however, we found
it difficult to communicate with many Indians outside the campus. But you get used to
using body language and guessing.
Visa/MasterCard
We recommend that you have a MasterCard in addition to a visa card, because often the
visa card does not work in stores and shopping centers. To be sure, it is always
convenient to carry cash.
Social activities
Most of the students study at night, so there are plenty of social activities going on during
the day. You can represent your hostel in the IIMCalympics and compete in footer
volley, football, tennis, table-tennis, badminton and cricket. Practices are usually after
dinner. The activity groups such as the finance committee, debate club, movie club,
strategy club and reading club normally hold meetings after the snack (18.00). Many
exchange students found the night canteen an excellent hang out after dinner. They offer
the local beer. Every night/early morning there is also arranged poker tournaments at
Tagore (New) Hostel. Anyone can enter, but be advised, most of the students were
excellent bluffers. If you want to go out clubbing Kolkata offers a wide range of
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alternatives. The best way to find a hot club is simply to join your fellow IIM’s.
Remember that admission will go much more smoothly if you are accompanied by girls.
If you crave for some western inputs, we suggest you take the trip to Grand Oberoi
located near Park Street downtown Kolkata (they serve Norwegian Salmon and
Carlsberg). All students live on campus and there is always a range of activities going on,
so if you are bored at IIM-C it is mainly your own fault.
Overall experiences and recommendations
Studying at IIM-C was a different, but exciting experience. Being a part of IIM-C is truly
a privilege.Because admission standards are high, you get the opportunity to work with
motivated, hard working and test your abilities against Indias best students. India will
soon become the second largest economy in the world , and first hand knowledge will
enrich your understanding of this key driver. We also got to travel a lot and experience
something fundamentally different from what we were customed. India is a land of
extreme contrasts and is in a sense both beautiful and appalling at the same time. The
poverty is extreme, waste management is almost non-existent, while our encounter with
Indian beauracracy was at times absurd. On the other hand, India is a land of
opportunities. Every thing you desire is within arms reach and you will see some
breathtaking views, taste and smell flavors you did not know existed, increase your
knowledge, live large on a studentloan and establish lifelong friendships. If you go to
IIM-C, and we suggest you do, we would advise you to travel a couple of weeks before
the semester starts to settle in with the Indian way of life. No words can justly describe an
experience such as our four months in India was, you have to see for your self. We
promise it will be time well spent..
Please feel free to contact us at kamilla_haraldstad@hotmail.com and
bertel.steen@gmail.com for further assistance or advise.
Best regards
Kamilla and Bertel
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