The 4^th convocating MBA batch (2018-20) had 98 students who have successfully completed all requirements for the award of MBA Degree. The 5^th convocating MBA batch (2019-21) consists of 115 students. Ayush Tiwari and Soumit Mukherjee from 4^th batch received Chairman, Gold Medal. Mohammed Sameer received the Director Gold Medal and Geoffrey David was awarded the trophy for his all-rounder performance for 2020. Similarly, Shyamsunder from the fifth batch received Chairman Gold Medal. Akash Jain received the Director Gold Medal and Rajat Shrinet was awarded the trophy for his all-rounder performance for 2021.

The Chief Guest Dr. Naushad Forbes, Co-Chairman, Forbes Marshall, delivered the convocation address. Dr. Forbes congratulated both the batches. Dr. Naushad talked about the damages created by unprecedented times. He referred to the fall of GDP and the health & economic crisis of the country and the world and invoked the students to prepare for unprecedented leadership to deal with these unprecedented times. Having a degree from a premier institute like IIM is a privilege. It means one automatically has opportunities that are distinct and attractive. At the same time, you should be careful in choosing your career. One must enjoy the field of work, he emphasized. He advised the students to revisit the theory of motivation. According to him, having no money brings dissatisfaction but if you have it, you may still be dissatisfied. He cited some personal experience and with the help of some examples, he sought to enlighten the students to focus on the content of the job and the people with whom one gets the chance to work with. He opined that if the work is challenging, one learns all the time, and these together with the content and right people, it will bring their own rewards. Your education is a path for a better livelihood as well as for a better citizenship, he advised. He also referred to the growth story and governing structures of India and China and talked about its future implications. He congratulated IIM Sirmaur for launching the MBA programme in Tourism and Hospitality Management, which is very pertinent to a diverse country like India and highly relevant with a beautiful State like Himachal Pradesh. He broadly appreciated the initiatives and the relevant steps undertaken by IIM Sirmaur located in the State of Himachal Pradesh.

Shri Ajay S. Shriram, Chairman Board of Governors in his address congratulated the students and their families for successfully graduating from the institute. Shri Ajay S. Shriram also congratulated the faculty and staff of the institute for their commitment. In his address on the occasion, he talked about five important principles of leadership as caring attitude, technology experimentation, environment sensitivity, proper execution, and expectations from the execution. The current tested times have taught these principles to us very well, he commented. According to him, a leader must show and communicate full responsibility and display empathy and concern. A leader must experiment and evaluate the technology and be sensitive to climate change as well. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are making its mark and virtual mode of communication can significantly improve the participation from different people, he said. He further elaborated that strategies are sometimes irrelevant because drafting strategies can be outsourced, but the execution is most of the time in-house. He highlighted that a leader must not only address the expectations of the shareholders and employees but also expectations of community around.

Towards the end of his address, he congratulated Prof. Neelu Rohmetra for her commitments during the last four years towards the growth of the institute under very demanding conditions of remote location which according to him is not an easy task. Even with these unprecedented times, the academic calendar and the growth of the institute were intact under the leadership of Director, Professor Neelu Rohmetra and her team at IIM Sirmaur, he said. He re-iterated that once the construction of the permanent campus is complete, it will create its own identity and fulfil the motto of knowledge and leadership.

Earlier, Prof Rohmetra presented the Director report and highlighted the achievements and accomplishments of the Institute. Prof. Rohmetra mentioned that despite all odds of the last 1.5 years, the institute has grown significantly. Two new programmes Ph.D and MBA (Tourism and Hospitality Management) were launched in the year 2020. We progressed and prospered with our collective wisdom, she said. She also reported that the institute is maintaining near 100% placement record. While speaking on the occasion, Prof. Rohmetra reported the achievements in improvising gender diversity in 2020 and 2021. We have 89 girls students enrolled in 2021, making it nearly 30% of the total enrolment who choose to join IIM Sirmaur this year in 2021, she said.

Prof. Rohmetra highlighted the achievements of permanent campus development, the faculty and non-faculty recruitments made, the high quality research published by the young faculty and numerous student initiatives in CSR, sports, culture and academic areas. She mentioned about the institutional memberships like AACSB, the MoUs signed to promote collaborative research, the scholarships awarded to students and the new programmes launched. She expressed satisfaction that the institution handled the challenging situation posed by Covd-19 very efficiently. She congratulated the parents, students and the faculty on the occasion and thanked the Chairman, the Board for their support and encouragement all through. I wish to record that IIM Sirmaur is all set to take bigger steps in a systematic, authentic and subtle manner with collective wisdom, Prof. Rohmetra emphasized.

The event was appreciated by one and all. All the faculty, staff and students of IIM Sirmaur witnessed the award of degrees, medals and trophies in online mode. Prof. Pradipta Patra, Chairperson Programmes conducted the proceedings. Dr. Vikrant Kaushal was the Master of ceremonies.

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