St. Joseph's Institute of Management PGDM Review By Dayanand Rajput

Not many would know this but SJIM is one of the oldest B-School in the country. It was established before IIM-B and is rated as one of the top colleges for management studies. The college is autonomous and might not be known to people outside Karnataka but is ranked the second-best Management school of Karnataka after IIM. I so really think that I can explain it to my readers that how good SJIM was. It has a management quota and that is how I got admissions here because seats are less and it accepts a huge CAT percentile which I didn’t have. MAT score though is what is considered for intake more than CAT or other similar scores. Moving on the college has a nice infrastructure and most importantly it’s the pedigree that counts. St. Joseph holds a bright name in education in Karnataka and I feel so sad that people outside Karnataka doesn’t even know about institutes of St. Joseph.

Each class has very few students and that helps in building a connection with faculty. Every now and then we used to have doubt session classes and what we learn during the course of the week was solved upfront. We were taken on industrial tours every now and then and exposure provided at SJIM was unbelievable. I am finding it extremely difficult to write because some good things can never stop and SJIM was that without the slightest of doubts. Education was all about exhibiting your skills and all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy was duly followed here. Participating in sports was compulsory over here. Activities that took place at the campus had an essence that would help us grow our management skills.

All professors were IIM pass outs and had teaching experience that has taken people to the top. Faculty members designed some activities and through which they used to bring the students close. Building relationship with students and teachers was a part of studies and faculties were managed to do that sincerely as there were hardly any differences among the students. Faculties were the main pillars of SJIM and don’t think I can thank them enough for making me a person that has become a sensible man from a rookie in just 2 years.

Placement percentage of SJIM is quite high compared to the other B-Schools. The packages offered were also higher than most of the B-Schools of the country. Why SJIM is not ranked among the top 10 B-Schools in India is beyond me because the average placement package of our batch was Rs. 9 LPA. If that’s not enough then what is? Investment banking firms like Barclays, JP Morgan, Nomura had sent their representatives. Apart from these there were many Banking and IT companies that showed full faith in students of SJIM. Roles offered to the students include marketing manager, financial analyst, or that of team leader. Before placements, we were sent for internship for 2 months and most of the students were hired through internship itself.

SJIM has 2 boys and 1 girls hostel which is just one and a half mile away from the campus. A girls hostel now is at the campus as it was getting ready during the year we passed out. Hostel rooms were ok types as double sharing rooms didn’t have attached washrooms and there were common washrooms on each floor of the hostel buildings. Only the single bed rooms had attached washrooms but fees incresed from 80k per year to Rs. 1.3 lakhs per year for single bed room. Mess food was again ok but college is located in the heart of the city and fortunately I used to enough pocket money to go out for dinner with my friends. The in-time was 10 pm and that was reasonable as apart from late night movies we never had complaints regarding the in-time.

Infrastructure of SJIM was good as it housed almost all the facilities required. Electric library and gates would only open with I-cards. College gates too were ICT enabled and this was a new concept as we follow the same today in our offices. The campus is beautiful as it has 2 lush green gardens and a sporting area that one can only dream of. The cricket ground is close to domestic grounds as there are practice pitches along with main pitch that is taken care by the curator. There’s a gymnasium which has all the latest equipment’s to stay fit and build some muscles. The canteen was something that I had issues with but as I have said the college location was arguably the best and food issue never felt like one.

SJIM hostel Joseph Premiere League every year in which all Joseph Institute students would participate. Just like any other league this league too became popular among college students as entry was not just restricted to college students as we were allowed to bring our friends along. Learning with playing is what SJIM campus life was. It was a pleasure studying at SJIM which I believe is one of the most underrated institutes of the country.