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Named after a visionary in education, Sri Chikka Muniappa Reddy, CMR Institute of Management Studies (CMRIMS) was established in 1996 in Bangalore. Currently, this institute has 2,400 students, out of which 40 per cent are girls. The college campus is spread across three different parts of Bangalore — Kalyan Nagar, YMBR Layout and Whitefield. The under-graduate courses are conducted in the YMBR Layout campus which is also popularly called the CMRIMS campus II. The MBA classes are held in Kalyan Nagar and Whitefield campuses of CMRIMS.
Sleek, stylish and compact can define CMRIMS campus II. The infrastructure of this campus truly stands out and spreads across 2.5 acres. This campus has the distinction of winning the best architecture design for accessibility, material use, ventilation and adequate utility facilities in 2004-05. According to Prof Suja Bennet, principal, CMR is the first private institution to get autonomy in 2009 and this has been a very bold step towards creating a contemporary course curriculum for students. CMRIMS is affiliated to the Bangalore University and is approved by AICTE, New Delhi, recognised by UGC, State and Central governments, and has been assessed and accredited by NAAC.
She said, “We started in 1991 as National Public School, but now we have 18 institutions and 12,000 students in all and also a Singapore campus for students till 10th standard. When our students pass out from CMRIMS, we don’t want knowledge boxes going out, but students with values.”
Apart from the six under-graduate courses like BBM, BCA, BCom, BSc and BA and eight post-graduate courses like MBA, MCA, MCom, MSW and MSc, CMR also runs various short-term courses in CPT (coaching for Chartered Accountancy), HRM, Managerial Marketing and Retail Marketing Management which fit the portfolio of value-added courses, and certificate programmes as well. The management courses offered at CMR are related to marketing, production, finance and HR. Students can take more than one specialisation, reflecting the inter-disciplinary approach of the institute.
As far as placements are concerned, many students were placed with reputed companies like Caritus, Wipro, Infosys, HSBC, TCS and Reliance in the last academic year through the Career Guidance and Placement Bureau. The upper bracket of remuneration offered was Rs 4-6 lakh per annum. Workshops, seminars and conferences which are conducted regularly in CMR have resource persons from various national and international institutes.
There is also a very vibrant alumni association which has on board CMR alumni who have done very well for themselves.
The college also offers its students enough scope for research work in management, commerce, biotechnology and micro-biology. The well-equipped library facilities store more than 20,000 course-related and reference books. Students consider the college library as one of the best libraries around. There is also a wide range of multi-lingual books (Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, Sanskrit, French, Malayalam) and journals, business journals, fiction books, more than 1,000 audio-visual films and newspapers for the faculty and students to refer to. A digital library with computer facilities is also in the pipeline.
The CMR campus also caters to courses run by IGNOU. So, a study centre of IGNOU is also based in CMR campus I in Kalyan Nagar. The audio-visual hall, with a capacity of 150 students, and an auditorium, with a capacity of 1,000 people, is equipped with all the modern facilities. All the classrooms are well ventilated and each classroom has a capacity of 60 students.
The CMR at Kalyan Nagar campus has extensive lab facilities which cater to students of bio-technology, micro-biology, bio-chemistry and botany at the UG and PG levels. The language and computer labs also cater to MCA and BCA students, apart from other students. But this campus is quite inadequate, in terms of open space for students to hang out or play different sports.
The student-teacher relationship is very crucial and effective in CMR. There is a process of mentoring, which has a ratio of 1:20 between the faculty member and students.
Remedial and tutorial classes are regularly held to enable weak students to cope with the syllabus. Many students are consistent rank holders in CMRIMS, which is also possible due to an advanced learners’ development programme that enables students with good performance to get leverage in attendance, get extra time for student seminars and also borrow more books from the library.
According to Prof Anandappa, vice-principal, “Our college is very special as we have students from 54 countries of the world.” Most of the international students are referred to CMR through the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). These students are supported by scholarships through their countries and the ICCR. All the Indian states are represented at CMR and they have adequate hostel and canteen facilities for students.
Nada from Maldives said, “In Maldives, we do not get mixed cultures but here we have a good mix of people from different cultures and that gives us a good exposure.”
Sarika, a BBM 2nd semester student, agreed with Nada and said, “CMR is like one family where people from all over the world are represented. You don’t need to travel too far to diverse cultures and traditions. CMR has everyone on board. It’s really great to study and find friends from different parts of the world.”
CMRIMS also has a gamut of courses related to soft skills which focus on presentation skills, inter-personal skills, body language, etiquette, language, etc. Apart from these courses, CMRIMS also offers counselling facilities through its counselling centre called Santwana. Active wings of the social work department, NCC, NSS and Rotaract, located on the campus, conduct various social awareness programmes within CMR. The college also provides scribe facility for students with temporary or permanent disabilities.
The college offers enough fun activities to help students unwind. MANTECH, the annual cultural festival of CMRIMS, is one such event. Students really look up to this event. Many students have represented the college in state and national sports events. Students have formed basketball and football teams and boxing as a sport is also picking up for students of CMRIMS. In a nutshell, CMRIMS provides the right atmosphere for students in management stream to get the best facilities, interact with international students, and get quality education.