'We show our students life outside air-conditioned rooms'

CURRICULA

Reverend P D Thomas, director, Xavier Labour Research Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur, can't stop talking about how the institute was chosen by the Planning Commission to prepare the Jharkhand Government State Development Report and create a blueprint for development in the state.

"Fifteen faculty members played a crucial role here. We made a strong cause for recognition of private initiatives. A number of recommendations given in the report are now being implemented," says Thomas proudly.

XLRI has now been given a study on the HR index for the state. Other projects include one to integrate records of the employees' provident fund organisation into a nationwide network being developed by Siemens.

But if you think the institute is all about blueprints, drawing boards and strategic planning projects, check this: four months ago, XLRI started the Xavier Institute of Tribal Education, which emphasises the study of Indian tribals and working with them at the grassroots level.

"We show our students the reality outside air-conditioned rooms, and that they can not, and should not, live for 10 per cent of Indians who are the haves and ignore the have-nots," says the Reverend.

After so much to do, no wonder the director says he has no time to pursue other interests like reading and music. But it doesn't look like he is complaining either.

"We have a lot of ground to cover. And we will do everything it takes to make XLRI the best management institute not only in India, but in Asia," he says.

The groundwork appears to have been done for one of the oldest management institutes of India (established 1949) to make it bigger, after having featuring among the top 10 B-schools in India.

Since Thomas joined XLRI in 1994 (from Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneshwar, where he is one of the founder members), he has increased the permanent faculty strength to 40; added six new blocks to the campus; research and consultancy projects are being taken up aggressively; and foreign collaborations are in the offing for the faculty as well as the students' exchange programme.

But the biggest challenge, Thomas says, waited for him when he joined the institute, "There was a degree of discord and ambivalence about what the future path of growth for the institute should be."

So, the director got together with the faculty council and had individual meetings with the staff. With a strategy to build on the strengths, the institute has come a long way today.

Its flagship course is the two-year personnel management and industrial relations programme, which is highly acclaimed not just in India, but in Asia too.

Apart from the regular management development programmes, with the popular basic leadership programme, XLRI is also big on in-house training programmes customised for organisations and has served companies like BHEL, Coca-Cola, HCL, Indian Airlines, Indian Railways, NTPC, ONGC and Pepsi.

Then there are the satellite-based programmes that the institute initiated in February last year. Six hundred professionals in 33 cities have enrolled for the courses.

"To overcome the lack of one-to-one communication and interaction that can be had in a classroom, we have started an immersion programme where the students are invited to come down to the campus twice a year, and interact with the faculty," says Thomas.

But what of the fact that the institute is secluded from where the corporate action is "" the metros? Thomas agrees that there is a bit of a locational disadvantage and emphasises the importance of students' interface with industry.

So, apart from the regular summer experiments, there are mandatory visits to industries every week. That should be easy, considering that the area has as many as 700 small-scale industries and Jamshedpur city has giants like Telco, Telcon and GCII.

"Moreover, with the present system of advanced communications like email and video conferencing, the physical distance is almost insignificant," assures Thomas.

Talking of technology, XLRI had planned to hold XAT, its entrance test, online two years ago; but it was called off at the last moment.

"The test was ahead of its time. The infrastructure at the last mile failed us when we sent the question paper by satellite," clarifies Thomas but says that in all probability, the test next year will be an online one in the bigger centres, while a paper-and-pencil test will also be on offer, giving the candidate a choice of modes.

And could this distance from metros and other B-schools be the reason for the director calling a "family-like environment" XLRI's USP?

He credits it to the various events that the institute organises, the most popular among them being a bi-annual HR conference, a national IT seminar, the sports meet with IIM, Kolkata, and the marketing fair.

In fact, the director claims that the 25-year-old marketing fair, which is now on the annual calendar of every B-school, is the brainchild of XLRI's Sharad Sarin, head, marketing area.