IIPM: A web of (mis)management and deceit

This is another post in the “Its Fucked Up” categoryI asked him if there was IIPM presence in Toronto as claimed on their website and he said “nothing is there because nothing worked out and its not like what they say on their website”

It is with horror that I have been following the recent fiasco at some run of the mill management institute called IIPM.

It all started when a small magazine decided to do an expose. JAM Mag wrote

“You see the ads in the papers almost everyday. They claim to be one of the 10 best B-schools in India, and in some ‘fields’ even BETTER than the IIMs. We wanted to be doubly sure, so we did a little asking around, and here’s what we found out! There are many questions that come to mind when one glances at IIPM’s full page advertisements. Will it REALLY be beneficial to my career if I complete IIPM’s MBA program? Can all of these promises made be backed up by facts? And will I get a suitable return on my investment?

“The truth is out there” they say. And with that thought in mind, we went fact-finding.”

The editor of the magazine, and an regular blogger Rashmi Bansal has been hit hard on her blog with vile and vicious comments. How I wish I could get down to the level of those so called students and lambast them in their own language. Rashmi and her magazine have been issued legal notices.

Gaurav Sabnis a respected blogger linked to the article and blogged about it. Sadly with very dire consequences. Not only was he slammed with a legal notice to cease and desist from blogging about this topic, but he was asked to remove his posts by IIPM. Standing by his convictions, he has had a high price to pay. He resigned from his job at IBM because he believed in what he wrote and was amazingly decent not to get his employers in trouble. As he writes

The second thing dear to me is IBM’s well-being. IBM has been a good employer to me. I have no complaints about them. Even in light of these events, they did not pressurise me to go against my principles and hush the matter up. Yet, IBM was being dragged into this unnecessarily. It was being made a target of bizarre pressure tactics. If even one Thinkpad laptop was actually burnt, it would cause a lot of bad press and nuisance for IBM. So I did not want IBM’s well-being to be compromised in any way.

Hats off this man !! I dont know if I would have done the same thing in his place !! I probably would have, because i feel very strongly about what i write, and generally dont back off in a confrontation of this kind. I salute you Mr Sabnis. !!

Press Talk does a complete expose of the bullshit that IIPM dishes out in their advertisements.

Amit Varma has a very well balanced account of the whole fiasco.

DesiPundit has a sticky on their site and I would recommend you go there for the latest on this.

Kaps at Sambhar Mafia has issued a call to arms against the fake bloggers.

Internationally InstaPundit, and Global Voices Online write about it.

Lots of other bloggers have their say on it, just like I am doing here.

If you are a blogger, please write about this. Even posting a link to DesiPundit or linking to the indivudual bloggers will be great. If you are a reader protest about it by shooting an email to the “Dean” of the school Arindam Choudhari.

Here is the website of IIPM 

The website is registered to IIPM and the administrative contact is one Mr. A Sandeep.

Funnily the same

Here is their WHOIS info Domain Name: IIPM.EDU

Registrant: The Indian Institute of Planning & management C-10, Qutab Institutional Area New Delhi, Delhi 110016 INDIA

Contacts: Administrative Contact: A Sandeep Professor The Indian Institute of Planning & Management 24-B, DDA (MIG) FLATS, RAJOURI  GARDEN New Delhi, New Delhi 110027 INDIA 91-11-5194633 a_sandeep@vsnl.com

Technical Contact: Same as above

 

To further take this case, I called up the telephone number listed on their contact page for their IIPM’s Toronto Research Center, Canada; which is listed at The Indian Institute of Planning & Management; Suite 806; 150 Cosburn Avenue, Toronto: M4J2L9; CANADA Phone: +1-416-424-4649

All I get is a recorded message followed by a human voice speaking the seven digit number. What is this, a bucket shop ?? Does anyone familiar with Toronto know where this is ?

OK now this is big……

Just as I finished typing this sentence, my cell rings and a person by the name of Sanjeev calls back saying that I had called his telephone and he was returning the call. I said that I had called because this telephone number was posted on their site and I wanted to find out more about the institute. He categorically told me that they had nothing to do with IIPM. I asked him if there was IIPM presence in Toronto as claimed on their website and he said “nothing is there because nothing worked out and its not like what they say on their website”.

I now leave it to you to decide what’s going on !!

This just in

Curious Gawker informs us that the IIPM graduates have decided to burn their degrees in protest 🙂