Shillong, Dec 1 (ANI): Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh today laid the foundation stone for the country’s seventh and the north-eastern region’s first Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Shillong.
Speaking on the occasion at the Mayurbhanj complex in Nongthymmai here, Singh said that the north-east was on the march and the institute would help people achieve a bright future.
The Meghalaya Government has allotted a plot of 80 acres near the North Eastern Hill University here for the IIM’s permanent campus.
The institute named as the Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management (RG-IIM), after the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, will start functioning from next academic year from a temporary campus at the Mayurbhanj complex, till the setting up of the permanent campus.
To begin with, it will have 60 students for Post Graduate diploma in Business Management in the first year. Subsequently, it will be expanded to 120 seats in the third year and 180 in the sixth year.
It will also provide specialised courses to meet the specific needs of the region.
Meghalaya Chief minister Dr. D.D.Lapang said the Central Government’s thrust on the development in the north-east and its ‘Look East policy’ has created lot of avenues in the private sector.
The RG-IIM will be the seventh IIM in the country. The existing ones are at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode.
The institute plans to offer three courses — post graduate diploma in business management, fellowship programme in management and management development programmes. (ANI)