IILM Undergraduate Business School’s Eighteenth Graduation Ceremony

IILM Undergraduate Business School New Delhi had its Eighteenth Graduation Ceremony for the graduating students of BSc. (Honours) in Business & Management Studies in collaboration with School of Management, University of Bradford at the IILM Lodhi Road campus on 15th November 2016.
Professor Robert Parkin, Pro-Vice Chancellor, University of Bradford, UK, presided over the Ceremony and awarded Degrees to the graduating students. A total of 99 students were conferred degrees in this ceremony. Mrs. Malvika Rai, Chairperson, IILM presented Dr. Kulwant Rai Gold, Silver and Bronze medals to the meritorious students.

 

Dr. Anjali Singh, Dean, IILM Undergraduate Business School, welcomed and introduced Pro-Vice Chancellor, Professor Robert Parkin, University of Bradford and Dr. Stuart Roper, Interim Associate Dean, Research & Knowledge, Faculty of Management & Law, University of Bradford to IILM -UBS. She mentioned that the three years the students have invested here have helped them not only achieve academic goals but also evolve as human beings.
Dr. Stuart Roper congratulated the Graduands and inspired them to imbibe and appreciate the ethics and values in today’s workplace, principles which are very dear to UoB and IILM. He urged the students to remember that “education is a lifelong event”. Emphasizing the volatility of the current business world, he encouraged the students to make use of their graduate education to think critically about the information provided and use it for the betterment of the world.

 

Dr. Shuchi Agarwal, Director, IILM Undergraduate Business School spoke about the excellent platform that IILM offers to its students to develop their entrepreneurial skills. She emphasized that the undergraduate program aims to nurture innovative thoughts and actions of the students which can help them develop their family businesses or to grow as entrepreneurs themselves, thereby carving new heights of success. Highlighting the facility of IILM Startup Labs and access to an exceptional eco-system consisting of renowned mentors, industry experts, serial entrepreneurs, academic experts and investors, she demonstrated the aim of the Institute to provide an environment to student entrepreneurs to feel inspired by their IILM experience and maximize performance.

 

Congratulating the fresh graduates and their proud parents, Dr. Agrawal mentioned that the Convocation Day marks a transition phase in the graduands’ lives. She motivated them to take stock of the past and assess the bright future that lies before them.

 

In his address Professor Parkin applauded the achievement of the degree appealing to the students to remember the support from the various other people including family, friends and teachers that has helped them reach this summit. He highlighted that UoB students come from different parts of the world and societies, having varied ideas and UoB takes pride to better prepare them for the future. He also encouraged the students to apply their scientific and technical knowledge to bring solutions to the current problems like hunger, food security, and immigration crisis among others that the world is facing today.

 

He proudly shared that this year they celebrated the 50th Anniversary of UoB and reminisced about being the first ever business school in the UK, of having established the first ever peace studies department in the world, and of being the proud recipient of Queen’s Anniversary Prize – the highest recognition a university in the UK can achieve – for improving the lives of people living with dementia.

 

It was a solemn occasion yet marked by great joy and pride. After the formal ceremony, the graduands mingled with each other and their teachers, frequently taking pictures to mark the event and to create memories for the time to come.

Company Visit to Starbucks

An excited group of undergraduate students from stage1 visited Starbucks Coffee outlet at DLF Promenade as part of their company visit module. Starbucks is a familiar name for even the Indian consumers and the students were keen to understand how an all American brand would be faring in India and to know how they were differentiating themselves from the other players who were in the market before them.

The store was located at one end of the mall on the first floor close to the escalators which gives it a certain location advantage. The café was done up in brown and copper tones, its staff in green and white uniforms with the welcoming and pervasive smell of coffee.  The students observed that the café was fairly full and quite a few of the customers were school students.

The store manager along with some of the staff held a coffee tasting session for the students where they learnt about the different aspects of how coffee is categorized and graded as per its strength and flavour. Each of the staff wore aprons which not only had their names written across them, but the name of their favourite coffee blend as well. The students learnt about the coffee journey starting with the discovery of coffee beans in Ethiopia and how the beans made the journey across the world ending up in almost all corners of the world. The students saw the coffee “passport” which each staff member carried that had the details of the various coffee growing regions with space for the comments and observations of the staff. The staff would write down their observations about a particular brew from time to time.

The brewed coffee was poured into cups and passed to the students for tasting. The next step resulted in a lot of laughs since the best way to drink coffee is to slurp it. The slurping action has two benefits. One, it causes the coffee to coat a larger part of the mouth resulting in more flavor and two it cools sufficiently so as not to burn the mouth. The students came up with different adjectives to describe the flavour of the coffee ranging from woody, to smoky to burnt. The café also provided a serving of mango custard to go along with the coffee, and the pairing of the sweet creamy mango with the strong dark coffee enhanced flavours of both the coffee and custard.

The students realized that a cup of coffee is not just a cup of coffee but has a history and tradition of its own, and how different café outlets are creating new and unique experiences around coffee to promote their brands and satisfy customers.