International Workshop on Future Directions of ANN 12th Nov, 2010

The goal of Computational Intelligence (CI) is to help inventing intelligent computers by mimicking the way we, the human beings, approach problem solving. Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) is viewed as the most nearer model of the human nervous system. Naturally, the curiosity surrounding the ANN has emerged stronger as compared to the other components of CI viz. Fuzzy Logic & Evolutionary Computation. Despite rapid strides made over the past couple of decades, the gap between the expectations from ANN and its potential, as hitherto unearthed, leaves a lot to be desired. This necessitates a relook at the strategy that has been adopted so far towards the design & development of ANN.

The Intl. Workshop on Future Directions of Artificial Neural Networks (FDANN10) is aimed at creating a platform where the researchers will converge & deliberate on the possible roadmap for the future of ANN. Eminent speakers will share their frustrations as well as excitements with the audience & put forward their views vis-a-vis the route ANN should traverse in order to make it more stimulating & more useful. Sponsored by the International Neural Networks Society (INNS) & intended to be held in conjunction with the 2nd International Conference on Information Technology & Business Intelligence (ITBI10) at Institute of Management Technology, Nagpur, India, FDANN10 is a humble effort towards creating an awareness about the need to revisit the entire strategy as adopted so far as well as popularizing ANN, particularly in India. 

The International Conference on management of MSMEs - 2010

Management issues in micro, small and medium enterprise are becoming ever more complex and interdependent. These issues are playing an increasingly important role in today's world economy. New types of product and service offerings are also emerging to meet the needs of customers and consumers. The "International Conference on MSMEs" aims to bring together academia, practicing managers, industry researchers and scholar students to exchange and share their experiences and research results about all aspects of Management of MSMEs, and discuss the practical challenges encountered and the solutions adopted.

Micro, small and medium enterprises have started playing an ever increasing role in the world economy. Management of micro, small and medium enterprises are becoming more and more complex by the day. New types of product and service offerings are also emerging to meet the needs of customers and consumers. The International Conference on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMECON 10) aims to bring together academia, practicing managers, industry researchers and scholar students to exchange and share their experiences and research results about all aspects of management of these enterprises and discuss the practical challenges encountered and the solutions adopted.

IMT DUBAI - Projects & Internship

Internship Program
The In-Company internship at IMT is a key element of the learning process and as such an integral part of the program. The internship assignment is conducted on a individual basis and monitored and supervised by IMT faculty members together with a designated company supervisor.

The internship provides the students with the opportunity to work for a period of 8 weeks in a company/organization in Dubai or abroad and to apply the tools and skills learned during the course of their studies into real business situations.
The internship program is compulsory for all students with no prior work or internship experience. 

Students who have had work/internship experience prior to joining IMT-Dubai are exempted from the Internship Program. After review of each individual case, the Office of IPP will offer the concerned students alternative programs and activities such as project work or an elective course.

At the completion of their internship assignments, students will prepare a comprehensive report and they are required to give a formal presentation to a panel analysing the work they have been assigned to. 



Company Project
The Project work is a compulsory component of the MBA program at IMT and it carries 3 credits. For students in the MBA program, the Project Work is an exceptional educational opportunity to conduct applied research, build on the knowledge acquired and incorporate their 2 years course work into a highly integrative activity.

Its objectives are to apply to the real world the knowledge acquired at the classroom level, apply the research and analysis capabilities to complex real business issues and Interact and network with the business community
The Company Project takes place during semester IV of the program and is conducted on a group basis. Typically a team would be composed of 5-6 students.

Bringing Higher Education with in the reach

IMT partnership with Mashreq Bank

Higher education is becoming more and more expensive and students are under tremendous pressure to finance their studies. Recognizing the need of the students, IMT Dubai has gone into partnership with Mashreq bank, to provide financial assistance in terms of flexible and convenient loans to the students for a range of undergraduate and post graduate programs offered at IMT. To further lessen the financial burden, IMT will be giving an additional discount to the Students availing the study loans through Mashreq bank. 

The student’s loans are available to all the eligible candidates for getting admission in BSBA program as well as MBA program. The new student applications and those already enrolled with IMT Dubai are eligible for getting the loan. The terms and conditions of the loan are set by the Bank.

Obituary: IMT Director Dr. Anwar Ali passes away

It is indeed a day of great loss for the Management education sector when Dr. Anwar Ali, Director, Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad passed away after suffering from prolonged illness.

The IMT Dubai Advantage

Choice of Specializations

Courses covering major management disciplines offer students great flexibility in choosing their specialization from either of the four functional area including Marketing, Finance, Human Resource, Project Management.

Industry Interface

At IMT-Dubai, academics are important, but represent only half of your success. What sets IMT apart is how it prepares you for the real world though it’s strongly industry interfaced program.

Faculty Support

The quality of a business school is best defined by its faculty. At IMT-Dubai the faculty is the living embodiment of the school’s strategic priorities: dynamic, inquisitive, and constantly striving to help the students achieve their scholarly goals.

Network for the Future

IMT-Dubai is the proper scale: classes are small enough that students get to know each other, yet large enough that alumni enjoy a wide network. Strong friendships see the day, and provide the solid network - one of the strongest assets that business schools can provide their students. IMT-Dubai students can also tap into the worldwide IMT network.

State of the Art Campus

IMT-Dubai is located Dubai Academic City, a special purpose zone that hosts universities and other learning institutions. In the five buildings, spread over almost 250,000 square feet, IMT-Dubai offers superior academic, entertainment and residential facilities. Student housing is located within the campus, which is located not very far from Dubai’s main attractions.

Official Accreditation

At IMT-Dubai, we are proud of our official accreditation by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, making us the sole business school from India to have obtained this accreditation. This accreditation certifies that the academic curriculum of the university is of the highest caliber, and of international standards.

Dubai Advantage

As a truly global city, Dubai presents many advantages for IMT-Dubai students.

Dubai has emerged in the last few years as the main business hub of the region covering not only the Middle East but also Central Asia as well as the Indian Sub-Continent. Through its highly competitive and efficient infrastructure, Dubai today serves a market of more than 1.5 billion people and is ranked as the worldís third largest re-export center.

Dubai is also the ideal location for multi-national companies operating in the region with more than a third of Fortune 500 companies present locally. In addition, Dubai has witnessed in the last few years new developments, particularly in the financial and banking industries as well as a wide range of highly specialized and state of art dedicated free zones. As a result, Dubai offers a wide range of employment opportunities to IMTDubai business graduates.

With a booming and largely diversified economy,the development of highly specialized industries and the presence of prestigious companies, living and studying in Dubai is a definitive advantage. IMT-Dubai students are exposed to a cosmopolitan and multicultural society, and can find emplyment in companies hosting people from different parts of the world.

IMT Dubai - Community Life

For IMT-Dubai the belief that management education is much more than classroom lectures has never been more true. This is why IMT vows to provide various avenues for its students to broaden their perspectives and pursue extra-curricular areas of interest. Various student bodies groom the leaders of tomorrow and enable students to develop leadership skills for their futures.

Corporate Club 
The corporate club provides a vital link between IMT and the companies that are active in the UAE, the neighboring GCC countries, as well as India. This club promotes lively interactions in the annual forum known as the "IMT Knowledge Festival". This forum gathers members of the business community to share their experiences. This student-managed conference is a much-anticipated annual event that brings together a diverse group of professional, academic and student delegates from industry, the public sector and business schools. The Knowledge Festival is a forum to exchange ideas on important business trends.

Extra Curricular Activities
The extra-curricular club strives to render the IMT campus livelier and more interactive. This club is where the most energetic students devote their energies to organizing social and cultural events to round out the student life on campus. This club’s members are thinking out of the box to make the campus as vibrant as possible, and who knows, perhaps find a career option that combines corporate and cultural aspects.

Athletics
The Greek philosopher Aristotle emphasized “Mens sana in corporate sanem” when recommending that his students exercise daily to help their physical abilities develop along with their mental facilities. In keeping with this doctrine, IMT-Dubai campus is equipped with sports facilities including badminton, tennis, volleyball, and swimming.

Cultural Events
Students are encouraged to engage in cultural activities. The presence of other universities in close proximity in Academic City provides students with a menu of cultural activities including concerts, theater, music and cinema. Within IMT-Dubai, students are encouraged to organize screenings, festivals, seminars, exhibitions and other events for which a budget is available. The Office of Student Services coordinates these varied activities.

Office of Student Services
The Office of Student Services provides nonacademic support and assistance to students to help them integrate into the IMT Dubai community. The office also provides advice for personal development and services such as housing, student activities and sports activities. Personal counselling is also provided by qualified professionals.

IMT Community Watch...Contd. - E Cell

Started with a vision to develop, support and deliver the Entrepreneurship spirit among the students in their quest to achieve success in establishing their venture at all junctures, E-cell, IMT Ghaziabad has achieved great milestones since its inception a year ago. It has been recognized as one of the established E-cells in India by National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN). It is also a part of seven member mentors team to support and develop other new E-cells in India. Over the last one year, E-cell has supported seven new ventures from the campus. With the incubation centre coming up by June-2010, E-cell is ready to provide 360 degree support to the entrepreneurial minds.

Vision

• To develop, support and deliver the Entrepreneurship spirit among students in their quest to achieve success in establishing their venture at all junctures.

Mission

• To explore the opportunities for self-employment and inculcate the spirit of 'Entrepreneurship' in youth/IMTians.
• To foster the brightest ideas to one platform and convert them into business opportunities.

Objectives

• To educate students about entrepreneurship as an alternate career option.
• To develop a central source of information regarding all business ventures.
• To develop a strong network of students, entrepreneurs, business managers, Venture capitalists and professors.
• To conduct case studies, business plan competitions and small business management exercises so that students have real time experience.
• To arrange conferences where students will interact with corporate members and established Entrepreneurs.

The Cultural Committee, IMT Ghaziabad

The Cultural committee at IMT, Ghaziabad is dedicated to create pleasing work-life balance for the students. The committee has been functional since June 2008 and the first Co-ordinator was Uday Bhaskar. The aim of the committee is to provide umpteen opportunities to students to nurture their creativity & hobbies and portray their flairs and talents – their versatile self. 

 

 

The Cultural Committee works towards the purpose of creating, reflecting and imparting the IMT culture, to let students discover their skills, identify their forte and hone their talents.

Improving the quality of time spent at IMT, making the journey memorably enjoyable and helping the life out of curriculum to be as beneficial towards holistic development of one’s personality as the one in it – also constitute the role of the Cultural Committee in IMT.It is responsible for planning and organising the various cultural events throughout the year and also the ones during the Annual Inter B-School Fest ‘Passion’ organised by IMT.

 

 

The committee also acts as an interface between IMT and other B-schools, facilitating increasing inter b-school participation.

IMT Committee Watch

Alumni Relationship Committee (popularly known as ALCOM) is the flow of thoughts, elements of reminesance and nostalgia from the alumni of the institute and the rest of the IMT family. Alumni Relationship Committee is a humble attempt from the Institute to help the alumni have their roots intact, and the grand trunk of the institute to expand to greater heights. We at ALCOM are dedicated to working towards this common goal of being there for the alumni whenever they need their Alma Mater, be it nostalgia or other tangible requirements.

 

Since its inception the Committe has evolved and redefined its roles and responsibilities. The present committee, comprising of 23 members is a set of well-groomed professionals, working in three verticals; namely Communications, Mentorship and Short Term Projects.

 

The communications vertical is solely dedicated to maintaining contact with the alumni, solving any issues they have, and maintaining a sacrosanct database of our esteemed alumni who we revere. With over 3400 alumni, this is the seed of all our efforts as all events and innitiative by ALCOM germinate from the same. 

 

Keeping in mind the fact that over book-knowledge the wisdom of experienced minds is the most cherished value-addition that can happen to any student, ALCOM has taken the initiative to run a mentorship programme where an alumnus and a student interact as mentor-mentee, only to take forward the relationship into a well bonded and mutually beneficial one. Very often this initiative has led to a mentor being a guiding light to the mentee for life. The mentorship programmes was rolled out successfully this year as well with over 250 students being mentored by our esteemed alumni.

 

For an industry exposure what better than to work with alumni on their live projects? This is where the philosophy of a mutually beneficial initiative Short Term projects eminates from. Short Term Projects are basically tools that act as interface between the student managers and the corporate world.  For the corporate world Short Term Projects bring with them an exposure to the upcoming innovation and new thoughts, interaction with the next generation of managers and opportunity to fulfil their corporate social responsibility. For the student managers it is exposure to the industry, a practical taste of class-practised case-studies and theory, and an opportunity to interact with the experienced and acclaimed managers. With an average of a short term project a day the Committee has already started work on over 50 Short Term Projects since July which involve the contribution of over 120 intellectual student managers.

 

Alumni Relationship Committee does not restrict itself to these activities alone. ALCOM takes pride in the fact that the All India Alumni Meet, an annual feature is cherished event for the Institute which is at present held in 6 cities simultaneously. Last year the event was a tremendous success with over 700 alumni attending it. We also take pleasure in celebrating Reunions of batches after 25 years and 20 years titled “Yaadein” and “Bees saal baad” respectively. 

 

The Committee is also not ignorant towards the needs of the students, and organizes workshops, guest lectures, interactions, sessions, orientations, amphinights, conferences and conclaves that satisfy the requirements as well as give the students an industry exposure.

 

Alcom has also successfully organised an inter b-school event, “Branding the Commonwealth Games" - a contest conceived with the strategic partners being none other than the IMT Alumni who are part of the Marketing team of Commonwealth Games and JWT .The session consisted of a final round of presentations from the 7 shortlisted teams out of the 50 entries recieved from top B-Schools all across the nation. It was a keenly contested affair, with the teams coming up with in-depth analysis and creative ideas to promote the mega event.

 

The Alumni newsletter, Sampark, is a means by which our alumni are updated regularly about the various events happening in campus. The newsletter is sent out as monthly editions and covers various activities including a multitude of Inter B School and Intra IMT events. It just represents a way to reach out to our alumni and help them get the feel of life at IMT.

 

The Commitee is chaired by Dr. Vimi Jham, and also has an alumni backing in the form of the President and Vice-Presidents of the 4 zones of the nation. Another feather in the cap is Distinguished Alumni of the Year Award conferred by the institute to recognise the success of our alumni.

 

It is difficult to sum up all the activities of the Committee in a nutshell, but with a clear set of goals, we shall surge ahead to surpass milestones and benchmarks set by us only day after day. With this aim we are working hard for that which we strive, which is to have a relationship that bonds the alumni with their Alma Mater.

2nd International Conference on Brand Management

Following on from the success in 2008, the Institute of Management Technology [IMT] in Ghaziabad is hosting the second International Conference of Brand Management 2010. This year’s conference is collaboration between the IMT and the prestigious Centre for Indian Business at the University of Greenwich, London. Spearheaded by conference Chairs Dr. Lubna Nafees [IMT], Dr. Omkumar Krishnan [IMT] and Mr. Tim Gore, OBE [Greenwich], this International Conference became the Brand Management diary date of the year.

The ICBM team this year excelled itself, attracting such luminary speakers as Professor Abraham Koshy, Professor of Marketing at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and an authority on Brand, Mr. Biren Ghose, Country Head Technicolor and General Manager of Paprikaas Interactive and Mr. Kensaku Konishi the President and CEO of Canon India. Power packed branding sessions, bespoke workshops and a unique conference with three exclusive ‘tracks’ sparked interest at home as also across the globe.

Delegates booked in from as far afield as Japan, the UK, the USA, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia to participate in delivering some of worlds’ best pioneering academic research in Brand Management. Over 300 faculty and students from 3 different continents vied to submit work for the conference and to attend sessions delivered by global leaders in Brand Management such as Alok Bharadwaj, Senior Vice President of Canon India, Anshul Mathur , Director of Communications & Public Affairs at BP India abd Tuhin Sen, Creative Director of Saatchi & Saatchi, New Delhi.

Program highlights - Post Graduate Certificate Program in Sales & Marketing – IMT Ghaziabad

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES

The program provides a comprehensive understanding of contemporary approaches to acquiring, retaining and growing
business in an efficient and effective manner. The program will help participants to:

• Understand & identify the challenges emerging in the market place
• Develop a deep Customer and Market Orientation
• Learn the tools of managing, motivating and leading sales teams
• Master the fundamentals of channel design, development and management decisions
• Gain an appreciation of the sector specific issues in marketing of Pharmaceutical, Banking and Financial services, FMCG Industries and Industrial products.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

Working professionals with minimum one year experience, with an active interest in furthering their career in sales and marketing will find the course interesting and stimulating. The participants with 1 to 5 years of experience shall be given preference in the admission process.

PROGRAM BENEFITS
Develop broad understanding of emerging Sales & Marketing frameworks and their relationships with other business.

• Focus on cutting edge issues concerning sales and marketing practices including brand, services, distribution channel management and people management issues.
• Focus on synergy between in‐field practice and in‐class learning.
• The program will provide opportunities for specialised focus on Sales Management for B2C and B2B. Industry or sector specific issues will also be addressed as a part of the program.

PROGRAM STRUCTURE & CONTENTS

Modules

1. Marketing Management                                                          2. Marketing Research
3. Consumer Behaviour                                                              4. Strategic Marketing
5. Sales Management                                                                 6. Distribution Management
7. Marketing of Services – Focus on Financial                            8. International Marketing
Services
9. Managing Integrated Marketing Communication                     10. Strategic Brand Management
11. Customer Relationship Management                                     12. Business to Business Marketing
13. Retail Management                                                               14. Rural Marketing
15. Internet Marketing

PROJECT WORK
The programme includes a Faculty Guided Group Project work. The project work shall be conducted in Groups formed by the Faculty/Institute.

PROGRAM DESIGN AND DURATION

• The duration of the program is 1 year
• Students will undergo fifteen modules during this period.

CERTIFICATION

Candidates will successfully complete the program if they have received “Poor” grades in not more than two
courses. Successful candidates will receive a Certificate of Completion. Those with requisite participation but unable to complete successfully will receive a Certificate of Participation. Certificate will be issued by IMT Ghaziabad.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Working Professionals with more than one year of experience who are graduates (10+2+3 or equivalent) in
any discipline.

ConneXions 2010 @ IMT Ghaziabad

PGDM (Executive) Students at Institute of Management Technology (IMT) organised their annual event ‘Connexions 2010’. This year the topic for discussion was ‘Managing change in post recessionary times’. Eminent people from various multinational companies (MNCs) graced the occasion and shared their views and experiences with executive students.


Dr Anwar Ali, Director IMT Ghazibad inaugurated the function by lighting the lamps. In his key note address he highlighted how smart corporates have taken the advantage of situation and restructured the organisation according to the changing business environment.


Dr RK Chakraborti, Dean Academics in his welcome speech stated the importance of ethical code of conduct in the business. Dr Reema Khurana, Program chairperson talked about the PGDM Executive course and the appreciation which the program received from the industry.


Mr Abhimanyu Roy from Avalon Consulting said,” in coming times Asian economies led by India and China will be the ones to watch out for. They are set to be the drivers of growth story. On the HR aspect Mr Rajiv Sahdev from Moser Baer suggested,” companies should not overlook human resources and must blend it
with the technical part of business to succeed. ”


Sharing his views Mr Sanjay Batra from Rockwell Automation added,”to grow during recession, differentiate performance and not treat everyone on equal platform” Mr SP Singh from ISGEC John Thompson opined,” innovation and change is the key to deal with recession. If you don’t change the way you work, things will be difficult. Companies must also learn to delegate responsibility; only then real leaders can be produced who
can effectively face challenges such as recession.”

IMT Ghaziabad successfully organizes CWKM 2010

Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Ghaziabad organized at its campus, a National Consultation

Workshop on Knowledge Management (CWKM2010) on Friday, 30th April 2010. This was organized under the AICTE Project, “Developing a Framework for Flexible Knowledge Management Indices”. The Principal Investigator of the Project and Chairperson of the Consultation Workshop was Dr. Surinder Batra. The workshop was attended by over 60 delegates from various parts of the country and was also represented by delegates from Hong Kong & Mexico. All the participants were high level professionals from the Government, UN bodies & other international agencies, industry and academia. The Chief Guest was Dr. Rajiv Ratna Shah, Former Member Secretary, Planning Commission, Govt. of India. Other prominent
speakers included Dr. J. K. Suresh, Associate Vice President and Principal Knowledge Manager, Infosys Technologies Ltd., Bangalore; Dr. S. K. Panigrahi, Director General,. Carbon Minus India (CMI), New Delhi; and Ms. Waltraut Ritter, Research Director, Asia Pacific Intellectual Capital Centre, Hong Kong.

A key feature of the Workshop was participation of three esteemed KM professionals from the World Capital Institute from distance through their video-presentations. These were: Dr. Francisco Javier Carrillo, President, World Capital Institute – also, Director, Centre for Knowledge Systems/ Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico; Dr. Blanca C. Garcia, MAKCi Awards Chair, World Capital Institute; and Dr. Carlos Garcia, Associate Researcher, World Capital Institute. Sessions were also chaired by Wg. Cdr. (Retd.), Pradeep Valsangkar, MD, GCS Consulting; Professor Vinay Nangia, Head, Department of Management Studies, IIT Roorkee; Prof. K. M. Mital, Professor, Strategy Management, IILM, New Delhi; Dr. Gita Kumta, Professor, Information Systems, School of Business Management, NMIMS University, Mumbai; Mr. Dhirendra Krishna from Indian Audit & Accounts Service (Retired); and Prof. V.K Gupta, Professor, Operations Area, IMT Ghaziabad.

The key purpose of the Consultation Workshop was to elicit suggestions on various issues highlighted by Dr. Surinder Batra as the Principal Investigator of the AICTE Project on Developing a Framework on Flexible Knowledge Management Indices. The Participants worked in four groups, with each group deliberating in an idea generation session on different aspects of some of the existing frameworks, namely, Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises; Most Admired

Knowledge Cities; and Knowledge Assessment Methodology. In the convergence session, ideas generated by various groups were shared across the wider spectrum of participants for their further comments and suggestions. A total of 12 Research Papers were also presented in the Workshop by KM professionals from the academia, industry and the Government. These covered themes related to the objectives of the Conference.

CWKM2010 witnessed a rich exchange of ideas amongst KM professionals on the issues related to developing framework for flexible knowledge management indices, which would be relevant across various geo-entities such as village, block, district, city, state and country, as well as at the enterprise level. The deliberations would provide extremely useful inputs for finalizing the research findings and recommendations of the Project.