Girls outnumber boys on IIM-K admission list

Of the 361 students joining the postgraduate programme this year, 196 are girls

                                                    The IIM-K is taking the lead in achieving gender diversity.

Girls outnumber boys in the 2013-15 postgraduate programme at the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode (IIM-K), bringing in gender diversity that the institute has been trying for in recent years.

Till a few years ago, girls were a microscopic presence at the IIM-K. The sea change in gender profile at the institute is clear from the admission list which shows that of the 361 students joining the programme this year, 196 are girls.

In the new batch, 85 per cent of the students have a Bachelor’s degree in engineering and technology, and 11 per cent are from the commerce and economics stream. Four per cent of the students have studied medicine, pharmacy, science, and agriculture

Debashis Chatterjee, IIM-K Director, who took the lead in achieving gender diversity, said: “This year, we have not only led in ensuring gender diversity but also admitted national talent from the field of sports, music, martial arts, and social sector. Our goal is to churn out not just a competent manager but a well-rounded and compassionate human being.”

The presence of girls in the IIM-K classrooms has been increasing since 2010. There was an intake of 100 women students in a batch of 371 that year. It rose to 121 women in a batch of 341 in 2011. The class of 2013-2015 consists of students with zero to 24 months’ work experience.

The students this year are drawn from different parts of the country – Southern India (27%), Western India (26%), Northern India (19%), Eastern India (12%), and Union Territories, including Delhi (11%) and Central India (5%). There are also students from Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Tripura, and Jharkhand.

Several students with outstanding achievements not only in academics but also sports, music, and martial arts have gained admission to the IIM-K this year. 

Among them are Priya Chandak, who represented India in the world skating championship; Prakriti Sharma, a national-level swimmer; V. Lekshmi, basketball player; Parvathy Kalyanakrishnan who received the Gold Standard of the International Award for Young People (previously known as the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme) from the Vice-President for activities involving social service and mountaineering; Samya Ray, a delegate from India to the security panel at the Harvard Project for Asia and International Relations held at Taiwan; Ankit Goel, winner of gold medals in two National Karate Championships; Jithin Emmanuel Jacob, a graded musician by Trinity GuildHall, London; and Sourav Dhal, a gold medallist for being the best engineering graduate of the class of 2011 at the National Institute of Technology, Silchar.

Of the 361 students joining the postgraduate programme this year, 196 are girls – a continuation of the trend started in 2010