Summary
A total of 599 students graduated from the 2020 batch, with 112 of them bagging gold medals, while at least 92 students from the 2021 batch of 546 students won gold medals at the convocation
Tech Mahindra MD and CEO C P Gurnani delivered the graduation address, while Federal Bank MD and CEO Shyam Srinivasan delivered the keynote address
Chennai-based Great Lakes Institute of Management (GLIM) conferred degrees on a total of 1,145 students at its 16th and 17th convocation held jointly for the 2020 and 2021 batches of full-time and executive management courses, the B-school said in a statement on April 28.
Students from PGPM, PGDM, PGXPM, and PGPM (FLEX) were handed over their certificates at the Chennai Trade Centre on April 27 in presence of Tech Mahindra MD and CEO C P Gurnani and Federal Bank MD and CEO Shyam Srinivasan.
A total of 599 students graduated from the 2020 batch, with 112 of them bagging gold medals, while at least 92 students from the 2021 batch of 546 students won gold medals at the convocation, the institute said in its statement. Nine students in each batch received cash awards and 13 students were recognised as best outgoing students. It added.
Delivering the graduation address, chief guest CP Gurnani said, “In all the companies you work for, think of yourself as a leader. Parenting as a style of leadership, if we can adapt, will make us better managers, better entrepreneurs, better professionals and gain extreme ownership.”
He also elaborated on the four Ps in life – purpose, passion, people and performance.
Delivering the keynote address, Shyam Srinivasan said, “One characteristic that defines a leader is to have grit. Nothing substitutes grit and the ability to withstand stress. Post pandemic we have understood that nothing is a straight line, and no one knows how your career is going to shape up.”
Srinivasan also spoke on the need to be a relentless genuine learner. “Learn, unlearn and relearn. We thought we were prepared for challenges. In our banks, we have very well documented business continuity plans, but not one of us visualised a pandemic of this nature would affect us, and we needed to continue offering our customers seamless services. That is a skill you learn on the job as you go on implementing and innovating, but what keeps us at the top is the capability to keep learning,” he said.
Suresh Ramanathan, the dean of GLIM, thanked the families of the students for supporting them through trying times.
Speaking about the past two academic years, he said, “We have placed 100% of our students and our faculty have tripled their overall research productivity from 2020-2021 to 2021-2022. This is part of our long-term agenda which we wish to highlight. Our class of 2021 patiently endured hours of online classes and after coming to campus dealt with an unprecedented bio-bubble on campus for four months. We faced these turbulent times, but through all that, we shared many memorable events on campus.”
“Amidst facing challenges, during the pandemic, it was clear that a status quo was not the answer and we needed to be innovative. Keeping our students engaged during the pandemic, while they were still waiting to come to campus, was a priority for us and so we crafted a one-of-a-kind initiative called Term Zero. It brought in some of the top-most global faculty to address our students through zoom,” he added.
Last updated on 28 Apr 2022
