The Indian School of Business (ISB) celebrated its ninth graduation day on April 3, 2010, with 568 students from the Class of 2010 accepting their certificates from the Honourable Union Minister of Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal.

In addition to the Chief Guest Kapil Sibal, also present at the occasion were Rajat Gupta, Chairman, ISB; David C Schmittlein, John C Head III Dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management and Shaheed Malik, High Commissioner of Pakistan in India and members of the ISB board.

Delivering the welcome address, ISB Dean Ajit Rangnekar outlined the things that the school needs to do going forward. He said that the school needs to develop an even larger pool of high quality research oriented faculty, conduct rigorous academic research in all areas of management, support and enable innovation and entrepreneurship and more importantly their ecosystem, provide life long learning opportunity for alumni, support the enhancement of the overall quality of management education in the country, establish stronger linkages with industry, governments and other educational institutions to catalyse growth and build strong capability in the management of educational institutions.

Dean Rangnekar talked about some of the initiatives taken up by the Class of 2010 – ISB iDiya, a national social ideas challenge; Icon, an internal consulting initiative; the initiative on integrity and responsible leadership; Cold Call, a comic strip chronicling their lives at the ISB by two Class of 2010 students and the legacy contribution to the alumni endowment fund. Concluding his speech, Dean Rangnekar advised students, “Pursuit of money that does not contribute to the greater good will not lead to happiness.”

Prior to the graduation day ceremony, the ISB announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the MIT Sloan School of Management, to develop two new institutes at the ISB’s upcoming campus at Mohali – The BML Munjal Institute for Manufacturing Excellence and Innovation and The Punj Lloyd Institute for Physical Infrastructure Management. The MoU was signed by Dean Rangnekar and Dean Schmittlein. “We at MIT share ISB’s commitment to inventing the future of management education, to creating the ideas and insights that will improve management practice and developing the world’s next generation of principled, innovative leaders.”

In his address, Chairman Rajat Gupta said that the world is a complex, interdependent place where our greatest challenges and our greatest opportunities cannot be solved by business, government or civil society alone. “We must work together to ensure that the best capabilities that each of these sectors have are brought together for the betterment of society, for the betterment of mankind,” he said. He also delivered some invaluable advice to the students – “Just as you get comfortable in what you do, change it because that’s when you stop learning.”

Sibal spoke about “the future of management institutions and graduates in a world which is poised between a collapsing past and an uncertain future.” He said that it is becoming increasingly urgent to fundamentally re-examine theoretical frameworks, managerial mindsets and business models to revitalise the capitalist structure. He said that a philosophical framework of capitalism conscious of its responsibilities is needed. “The new business models must be inspirational and the measurement of the success of a business model must embrace new principles of accountancy which reflect in its balance sheet the purpose that transcends mere profit,” he said.

Emphasising the importance of Indian philosophy, he said, “To successfully meet the challenges that we face, each of you needs to move away from the western model of management and evolve a model that is distinctly Indian, based on our value system.” Concluding his speech, Sibal advised the students to “pursue a goal larger than the corporation that you serve, beyond the ‘self’ that is at the centre of your world.”

After the completion of the talks, the Scholars of Excellence and Students in the Deans List were handed over their certificates of merit by the Chief Guest. This was followed by the handing over of certificates to all the students. The “Hat Toss” and “Gown Drop” drew the memorable day to a close.