PM Modi to lay foundation of IIM-Sambalpur today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Saturday lay the foundation stone of the permanent campus of IIM Sambalpur, Odisha, via video conferencing, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

The PM too made the announcement on Twitter. “At 11 AM tomorrow, 2nd January, will lay the foundation stone for the permanent campus of IIM-Sambalpur. Would especially call upon my student friends and those in the world of start-ups to join the programme. India is proud of the rich contributions of IIMs to national progress,” he tweeted on Friday.

Odisha governor Ganeshi Lal and state chief minister Naveen Patnaik along with Union ministers Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, Dharmendra Pradhan and Pratap Chandra Sarangi will also be present on the occasion.

Over 5,000 invitees will take part in the ceremony. ”The ceremony will be virtually attended by over 5000 invitees including officials, industry leaders, academicians and students, alumni and faculty of IIM Sambalpur,” the statement said.

IIM Sambalpur is the first IIM to implement the idea of ‘flipped classrooms’, according to the PMO. A flipped classroom is where basic concepts are learnt in digital mode and experiential learning takes place in the class, through live projects from the industry. The institute also romped ahead of all other IIMs in terms of highest gender diversity with 49% girl students in MBA (2019-21) batch and 43% in MBA (2020-22) batch.