It is widely believed that the youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow. When Higher education institutions live up to their expectations by doing what is adequately required of them, then the end product is that they will produce competent, smart, skilled and employable graduates. And thus, the need of the hour are such educational hubs who strive towards this very objective, in turn, creating capable professionals. Thereby, emphasising on one such institution, that has been fostering information technology (IT) and IT enabled management education and research excellence – Atal Bihari Vajpayee-Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management (ABV-IIITM), Gwalior is the first IIIT established by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India in 1997.
Known for imparting superior quality technical and managerial education and pertinent skills in the areas of IT and management, ABV-IIITM is situated in Gwalior, northern part of Madhya Pradesh, which is also an ISO 9001:2008 certified institute and the only of its kind in the country. Founded with an aim of facilitating research-based higher education to the masses, the institute also gives consultancy in areas of IT and Business Management. And, by hosting a 4-year integrated program in IT and Management, apart from the BTech and MTech programs for all, industry-interactions are an integral part of the day-to-day lives of everyone present on the campus, in-effect and in-sync with the emerging technologies of the society and the market.
While the whole curriculum and the pedagogy followed at the institute is carefully curated, keeping in mind today’s technologies and management culture in a complete cross-cultural environment, ABV-IIITM with all its elements strives towards shaping students into innovation-filled professionals and entrepreneurs. Furthermore, by providing a world class state-of-the-art infrastructure, consisting of all the latest amenities and facilities and with an easy access for all, not only do students excel inside the classrooms, but they are eventually churned into all-rounders at ABV-IIITM. The onboard faculty members too are given equal importance on the campus, by motivating them to take part in various faculty development programs, that guide them towards becoming better teachers cum mentors to the students.
Towards advancement of knowledge
Built on a 150-acre residential campus that includes the specific blocks for administration, academics, library, hostel for girls and boys and family quarters for faculty, officers and staff, the management is proud of being a complete green campus. In addition to the above mentioned facilities, the institute also houses battery operated – two Golf Carts for easy movement of visitors and campus residents, wheelchairs in hostels and a in-house dispensary. ABV-IIITM also has a rich collection of books and journals in an elaborate library setup, that provides students a wide repository of knowledge through journals and industrial database like IEEE, EBSCO, CME, ABI/Inform complete, ACM Digital Library, IEL Online and many more. Moreover, the Institute library is well stocked with the texts and references in the area of Management, IT, Computer Science, Networking, Social Science along with industry related research papers and project reports.
Additionally, for extended practical learning across various courses related to IT, Management and Applied Sciences, ABV-IIITM has many laboratory facilities that are continuously being enhanced to cater the ever expanding academic and research needs. Various IT tools are used in functional areas like marketing research, decision support system, operational research and others. These laboratories have housed more than four hundred Pentium based computer systems of different makes such as Compaq, Digital, HCL and Silicon Graphics etc. There are many servers at present to cater various computing needs of the institute, that have helped students effortlessly move to the digital ways of learning during the lockdown period and after that.
“Keeping the approach to the course curation very unique, and making sure compartmentalization of branches or programs hardly happens, the institute has boosted more interactive and analytical teaching methods”, shares Dr. Rajendra Sahu, the professor of the Business Administration department and the spokesperson. Adding to his above statement, and telling us about the campus environment, Dr. Sahu stated – “Endorsing a totally-inclusive atmosphere on campus, student-student interactions are part of the curriculum, thereby, providing students with the right amount of skills and capabilities to excel as all-rounded personalities of tomorrow”.
Finally, being that place to be the first of IIIT series, first institute to start a Ph.D. program, and an MBA in Business Analytics course, first institute to start an e-governance course, and many such unique achievements and accolades, the institute and the management puts all its efforts towards student development, including the initiation of Placement Cell, TIIC Cell, Startup Cell & an exclusive E-Cell. With its strong-industry connections helping students get the best of both worlds, and having 70% of companies getting retained each year for the placement drives and opportunities, the students graduating from ABV-IIITM will indeed play a vital role in the digital global economy, focusing towards individual development, taking the society along in every step they take.
Dr. Rajendra Sahu – Professor
A Professor at ABV-IIITM, Gwalior, Dr. Sahu earned his Ph. D. from IIT Kharagpur, after completing his master’s degree both in Management and Engineering. His primary areas of interest are Systems Approach to Management, Business Analytics, IT-enabled Services, ERP, Supply Chain Management, Knowledge Management, Data Warehousing and Data Mining. Prof. Sahu served as a Director at IIIT, Basar-Andhra Pradesh for two terms. He has more than 30 years of teaching, research and consulting experience. During this tenure, he has been associated with the various national and international consulting projects, editorial board of 08 international journals, guided 10 PhD scholars, and published more than 100 research articles. He has conducted several Management Development, Faculty Development and Training programmes for leading organizations. He has been active in developing web based pedagogy and resource material. Prof. Sahu has been awarded as the best Professor in Knowledge Management by 26th Business School Affairs and Dewang Mehta National Education Award. He has also been honoured with the prestigious Dr. Abdul Kalam Gold Medal in 2015, as a Lifetime Achievement Award and has been associated with various national and international boards.
