It's been more than thirty years since CMS College of Science and Commerce was established, but it seems as though every single day the college's management has some optimistic news to share. When we walked into the college's premises in Coimbatore on a sunny April day, the CMS Educational Institutions' CEO and CMS Educational and Charitable Trust's Chairman were thrilled to share the news of them introducing courses in several new subjects for the coming academic year — including some offbeat subjects such as Forensic Science, Airline Management, Digital Marketing and Psychology.
Though the group started modestly in 1988 — their growth pattern has been nothing short of astounding. After CMS College of Science and Commerce came along first, they then expanded into the field of engineering with CMS College of Engineering and Technology. As they rode the engineering wave that struck the country, they then expanded into the next frontier — management studies — when the started CMS Institute of Management Studies. Since then, there has been no looking back.
M P Gopalakrishnan, the Trust's Chairman says that even though he is proud of the college and his students, he tells us that this journey wasn't a piece of cake by a long shot. Now that the group has started two Business schools on the same premises, Gopalakrishnan says that starting the second Business School and the Engineering College were among their most ambitious moves as well as their greatest challenges. "We have two business schools on the same campus so that we can accommodate more students. In these B-Schools, our students get state-of-the-art facilities. The classrooms are air-conditioned and our digital library is among the best," he says with a lot of pride.
The CEO of the group Dr S Sandhya Menon also talks to us about the B-Schools. "Our B-Schools are on par with the IIMs. The academic structure is completely different from other B-Schools. Our MBA course is bundled with a lot of activities," says Menon, who had just gotten back from an educational tour with the students. "An MBA programme must make the student industry-relevant and teach them life skills. So, we have a lot of value-added programmes as part of the curiculum and activities that focus on the mental, physical and spiritual development of the student," she adds. She also tells us about how the CMS students don't have to cope with everyday stress — the kind that students everywhere else usually struggle with. "The moment you start enjoying something, stress leaves you. Our students enjoy their work and hence, they aren't stressed," she says.
Gopalakrishnan goes on to tell us more about their students and how they have all been imbibed with an entrepreneurial streak. "We believe in creating job providers, not mere job seekers. We often have our alumni come to college to recruit fresh graduates," he says. Menon also tells us, with a lot of excitement, that the college is going to start a start-up incubation centre soon. "Already, we have a few start-ups that are working out of here. But we need to increase the number. A few of us got trained in IIT Bombay on start-up incubation. We'll start the centre soon." she says.
