Manipal Institute of Jewellery Management, Manipal

In 2005 the Udipi (Karnataka)-based Swarna Abharana Education Foundation teamed up with the neighbouring Manipal University to offer the country’s first bachelor's degree programme in jewellery design and management

Promoted in 2005 by the Udipi (Karnataka)-based Swarna Abharana Education Foundation, the Manipal Institute of Jewellery Management (MIJM) was shortly thereafter wholly absorbed by the neighbouring Manipal University (estb. 1942 as the Manipal Academy of Higher Education and conferred varsity status in 1993) — India’s largest privately promoted provider of professional (medicine, engineering, business and hotel management etc) education. Currently MIJM is one of the two (SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai is the other) higher education instit-utions offering degree programmes in jewellery design and management in India.

“Gems and jewellery processing, design and manufacture is one of India’s largest and most employment-intensive industries with an estimated annual sales turnover of Rs.80,000 crore, and accounts for 13.4 percent of the country’s exports revenue. However despite the huge scale and potential of this industry, formal design and management study programmes are rare. This is the rationale behind the promotion of MIJM which offers the country’s first bachelor’s programme in jewellery design and management culminating in a degree conferred by Manipal University. Our objective is to groom and nuture talented youth to become well-educated entrepreneurs and professional managers in the gems and jewellery industry,” says Prof. (Col. Retd) M.M. Shanbagh, an alumnus of IIT-Delhi who served with the Indian Army for almost three decades (1970-99) before signing up with the Manipal Institute of Management, Manipal in 2005 and taking charge as director of MIJM shortly thereafter.

In keeping with the Manipal University tradition of providing high-quality, industry-approved professional education, MIJM is equipped with centrally air-conditioned classrooms, and latest ICT-driven teaching aids including digital projectors, gemmology, design and casting labs, and fully wired IT infrastructure. Moreover students are eligible to access the common facilities including hostels, libraries, cafeterias etc of the state-of-the-art Manipal University campus in the eponymous varsity town (pop.28,000).

“Essentially we offer the BBA (bachelor of business administration) degree programme with additional exposure to the art of design of traditi-onal and fashion jewellery, gems testing, analysis and grading, manufacture of gold and platinum jewellery of global standards, the latest technology and aids including CAD, CAM, repousse, chasing, polishing, oxidising, anodising and engraving,” explains Shanbagh.

The synergy created by the takeover of MIJM by Manipal University has had the beneficial fallout of attracting high- quality faculty to the institute. Currently MIJM has a full-time faculty of 15 experienced former gems and jewellery industry professionals (“attracted by the Manipal brand name”) and a visiting faculty of over a dozen senior industry professionals and faculty from neigh-bouring Manipal Education Group institutions such as TAPMI (T.A. Pai Management Institute) and MIT (Manipal Institute of Technology) among others.

Looking ahead Shanbagh forsees a bright future for MIJM, and trained professionals entering the gems and jewellery industry. “With growing awareness of excellent career opportunities in this industry which shows no signs of slowing down despite rising gold, diamond and platinum prices, we are set to double our annual intake to 60 students in the next academic year starting July. Unfortunately, there’s insufficient awareness within the parents and student communities that there are excellent career prospects in this fast-track industry. Instead of blindly signing up for engineering colleges as per established tradition, school leavers with creative instincts should consider a career in this industry with great prospects,” says Shanbagh.

Autar Nehru (Manipal)