Gender and Academic Diversity at IIM Rohtak

Among all IITs and IIMs a new milestone has been achieved this year by IIM Rohtak. This
year Director Prof. Dheeraj Sharma announced during Induction Ceremony on June 18 th that
the new batch comprises 69 % female students. Moreover it was ensured that their loans were
ensured by banks within 48 hours. Apart from that PGP 2020-22 batch has immense
academic diversity. Its reported that 40% of the students have a prior work experience and the
rest are freshers. Additionally students belong to 24 diverse states from all over India.

Prof. Dheeraj Sharma added that it could be achieved because they had made a conscious
decision to move away from the Common Admission Process and conduct their own
admissions. Besides that, students who were either female or those who had diverse academic
backgrounds were given additional points in the interview rounds. Various dignitaries from
all over India including Dr. Subramanium Swamy on twitter have applauded IIM Rohtak’s
achievement this year.

The reasons why academic and gender diversity are preferred are very many. First of all
equal representation based on gender brings forth diverse points of views and perspectives
during case studies which are the way classes are taken at IIMs. Secondly, in a patriarchal
society like India girls’ parents consider it more fruitful to spend money on dowry and
marriages rather than on education. Incentives given to females by reputed institutions would
dismantle such rigid gender norms. Third, it would help the nation unleash the energies of
50% of its nascent population in the workforce and develop the economy rapidly.

Academic diversity, too, is highly desirable in any B-School. One factor is that just like
gender diversity, academically diverse students can represent their own viewpoints in class
discussions which would otherwise not be possible in a setup filled with just engineers. And
moreover, since 40% of the batch has experience it would ensure that there would be a
healthy transfer of ideas and perspectives among the students as well as the faculty. Even
during campus placements recruiters desire a diversity amidst applicants since they would be
able to tackle a business challenges in a multitude of ways.

Prof. Sharma also added that a few years ago in 2016 IIM Rohtak had only 6% of female
representation in its PGP Batch. From there IIM Rohtak has definitely travelled a long way to
achieve proper gender representation. It is hoped that it would auger well both for the
institute as well as for the students