Great Lakes Institute of Management remotely inaugurates new Green Campus

[Great_Laker]

Chennai, April 28, 2009: Great Lakes Institute of Management, a leading B- School, was founded by Prof. Bala V Balachandran, today inaugurated its new campus located at Manamai Village, near Mamallapuram. Mr. Adi Godrej, CMD, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. remotely inaugurated the new campus from the Chennai Convention Centre in the presence of Honorable Chief Guest, Thiru. K.S. Sripathy, IAS, Chief Secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu.
The inauguration ceremony was attended a number of dignitaries, including officials, representatives of academic institutions across the globe, professors and members of the foremost business houses in the country. Some of the esteemed guests who attended the ceremony was Jamshyd Godrej, CMD, Godrej & Boyce Mfg.Co.Ltd.; Madhur Bajaj, Vice Chairman, Bajaj Auto Ltd.; M.S. Sundara Rajan, CMD, Indian Bank; Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Former Under Secretary General, UN; and G.R.K. Reddy, CMD, Marg Ltd,.

Inaugurating the green campus, Mr. Adi Godrej said lot of people in the country feel it is the infrastructure bottleneck that stood in the way of India becoming a strong nation in the world. While this should be overcome, he is of the firm view the biggest hurdle to be overcome is in the field of education. India is required to focus more on primary, secondary and tertiary education. Even before the slow down, India had seen shortage of talent. This called for more establishing premier B schools to offer education oriented programmes. Mr Godrej asked the management students not to be concerned about the slow down and job opportunities. " Very soon, slow down will come to an end. When India’s growth again picks up, sky will be the limit" he told them.

Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary, K S Sripathy said it remains a leading state for investment by the MNCs in the manufacturing and services sector. It has become a hub for sectors like automobile, textiles and IT. While the Indian economy is expected to clock a growth rate of 6.6% in the current year, there is no impact of slow down in the State. " We have not seen any jobloss; may be wage cut", he said. Sripathy wanted B schools to take up case studies on the success of Indian businesses and entrepreneurs.

Speaking on the occasion, a delighted Prof. Bala V Balachandran said, “We at Great Lakes believe that true knowledge will help a student stand a chance to win in the competitive environment. We wanted to give our students not only the greatest of faculties but also set the right environment, to help them realize their potential. The start-of-the art green buildings are designed with an aesthetic and global appeal thereby creating the right ambience for creating thorough bred professionals who are ready to take on the future.”

Commenting on naming the green campus, Jamshyd Godrej, CMD, Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd said, “It is a momentous occasion to be part in the making of history. Great Lakes through its vision of creating green campus and its aspiration of becoming platinum rated green campus has truly taken the Indian education system to the next paradigm.”

Others who spoke on the occasion included Madhur Bajaj, Vice Chairman, Bajaj Auto, M S Sundara Rajan, CMD, Indian Bank, Dr Shashi Tharoor, former Under Secretary general, UN and GRK Reddy, CMD, Marg.
Great Lakes Institute of Management’s new green campus is situated very close to the famous shore temple of Mamallapuram, 50km from the city of Chennai which is constructed by Marg Ltd. The sprawling new campus is erected on 18 acres of land, the first phase that has been completed has a built-up area of 1,65,000 sq ft.. Great Lakes will be creating history, as the state-of-the- art campus are an environment friendly and a green building. There are different blocks dedicated to research, faculty offices and housing, administrative, student residences, recreation centers.
It has been designed to be LEED Platinum rated green campus and would be one of the first in India and among very few in the world. Aspiring to be a platinum rated green campus, the institute’s design concept derives itself from the tagline of the institute “Global mindset – Indian roots”. It aims to generate in students a sense of social responsibility. The design reflects the basic essence of simplicity, humbleness and clarity of thought.
Recognizing the importance of introspection for self development, the Green Campus constructed by Marg Ltd, in a record time of provides for an introspective Zen garden around which facilities like the library and museum are arranged. The wall around the garden is used as an art gallery for display of “inspiring” posters from alumni and staff. A variety of garden spaces like the garden of activity and garden of tranquility provide the much needed respite.
The entire campus is a 100% day-lit, recycles all its water and waste and uses a lot of reused and recycled products as some of the measures towards making a sustainable and green campus.
The convocation ceremony of PGPM class of ’09 (referred to as Champions), PGXPM - 3rd. batch and the formal welcoming of the PGPM class of 2010 (nicknamed as Patriots) happened in the morning session on the day of the inauguration.