The academic year of the one-year full-time, A batch of 67 students were welcomed by Dr. Devi Singh, Director, IIM Lucknow, Prof. Archana Shukla, Dean Noida Campus & Chairperson IPMX and Mr. M. Damodaran, Former Chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

The diversity in the new batch is reflected in several aspects: The class of IPMX 2011-12 includes 67 students, up from the 48 last year. The average work experience of the batch is about 8.5 years, with relatively fledgling careers and profiles.

The maximum work experience is of 20 years. The average age of the students of IPMX is 31.8 years. The class has 57 students from engineering background. The other 10 have diverse profiles including people from medicine, Media, Pharma, Agriculture, etc.

Having a diverse set of candidates not only increases class learning but also helps students build a wider professional network.  An eclectic mix of executives coming from diverse sectors and backgrounds makes it an interesting place to debate and discuss business-cases.

Mr. Damodaran in his inspirational inaugural address, urged the students to instill in themselves an entrepreneurial spirit which would lead to profits (earned legitimately and stated correctly), prosperity and therefore nation building. He said that money is not evil by itself but becomes evil when it becomes the master and the man becomes the slave of greed. He cautioned the students against such a situation. Mr. Damodaran’s speech was interspersed with personal anecdotes and interesting examples that underscored the immense significance and need of ethical, value based decision making which can only be the hallmark of a true leader.