International School of Information Management
The International School of Information Management (ISiM) is the first Indian i-School and is an autonomous constituent institute of the University of Mysore, located in Mysore in Karnataka State, Southern India. ISiM was conceptualised and established in 2005, in collaboration with the leading information schools in the U.S – namely the School of Information at the University of Michigan, the School of Information Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, and the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University, International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Bangalore, and Dalhousie University of Canada. ISiM was established with munificent  grants from the Ford Foundation and Bangalore based Informatics India Pvt. Ltd. Introduction. ISiM was conceptualized and established in 2005, by the University of Mysore, with seed grants from the Ford Foundation and Bangalore based Informatics India Pvt. Ltd., and in partnership with some of the leading information schools in the U.S, namely the School of Information at the University of Michigan, the School of Information Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, and the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University. To strengthen its academic linkages, ISiM signed memorandum of understanding with School of Information Studies at Syracuse University, USA , University of Michigan, USA and Dalhousie University of Canada in 2006. Being a new age school for the knowledge economy, ISiM also defines a new educational model – Inverse of Distance Learning – in which, the students and the school are in Mysore, but, the faculty and mentors are drawn from ISiM’s partners and other institutions. ISiM is directed by an independent Governing Board, chaired by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mysore, with eminent academics and industry stalwarts as members. ISiM is managed today with some of the finest minds from Academia, Industry and the Government and has on  its governing board personalities like N. R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman and Mentor Infosys Technologies and others like Prof. M. Anandakrishnan, Chairman-IIT Kanpur, Dr.N. Seshagiri, Former Director General, National Informatics Centre, New Delhi, Dr. S. Sadagopan, Founder Director- IIIT, Bangalore, Mr. M. N. Vidyashankar, Principal Secretary, Department of E-Governance, Government of Karnataka, Mr. Prasad Ram, Director and Center Head, Google India, among others. Evolution of ISiM. The seed of ISiM was sown during a discussion among like minded peers in the academia and some more members from the industry, and dozens of brainstorming sessions later during the annual  Knowledge Summit in September 2005, Dr. Som Mittal, the then Director of HP and the current President of NASSCOM officially launched ISiM. From 2005, ISiM has evolved from being a mere concept to reality, and has defined a new educational model in this process - Inverse of Distance Learning. Academics. The first batch of M.Tech began in August 2007. Currently, three batches of M.Tech students have graduated out of ISiM. The 2nd year of the fourth batch will commence from September 2011. Being a multidisciplinary course, the M.Tech degree offered by ISiM attracts students from various backgrounds, from different states within  India and from around the world. The growing number of foreign students at ISiM is a testimony to its high standards of education (foreign students have grown from 0% in the first batch of M.Tech to 23% in the third batch). In its fourth batch(2012) 27% of the total students are foreign students. It show the development of ISiM year by year. Degree programmes. ISiM offers the following programmes: Faculty. ISiM has 37 adjunct faculty drawn from its network of excellence. ISiM’s faculty include Dr. Srinivas "Srini" Sampalli, from Dalhousie University in Canada, who is one of Canada’s  top educator and researcher, Dr. Kevin Crowston from Syracuse University, Prof. Nandini Vaidyanathan who is an Entrepreneur and a Business Consultant, Prof. Helen Sharp from the Open University U.K, Ms. Waltraut Ritter from Knowledge Dialogues Hong Kong, Dr. D. S. Guru from Department of Studies in Computer Science of University of Mysore, Mr. Bhanu Kiran Potta who is the Global Product Manager of Nokia, among others. Research. Research areas of ISiM include: Projects. ISiM has been involved in various community projects, which include: ISiM Board of Studies. in Campus. ISiM’s campus is located in the ‘‘Manasagangothri’’ campus of the  University of Mysore at Mysore, India. ISiM began its journey by utilising the classrooms of the Department of Library and Information Science in the University of Mysore. Its new campus was inaugurated on 20 August 2008 by Mr. N. R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman and Chief Mentor of Infosys, who is also a member of ISiM’s governing body. ISiM Events / Academic Activities. InfoVision Summit Series. In an attempt to promote Academia – Industry interaction for improvisation and innovation through collaborative effort, ISiM organizes InfoVision, an annual conference series organized with this theme. InfoVision 2006 was organized with Confederation of Indian Industries  (CII), Bangalore as joint organizers, InfoVision 2007 with Rediff and Internet And Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), InfoVision 2009 with Microsoft Research and Bangalore Chamber of Industries and Commerce (BCIC) and 2011 with TDWI Chapter India, CSI, DAMA international, IEEE Computer society, ACM and Compegence. ISiM also organized InfoQuiz 2007, prior to the commencement of its M.Tech. programme. Special Lecture Series. ISiM collaborates with other universities and organizations to organize special events, and one such venture is lecture series called "Special Lecture Series", with speakers being experts from both the academia and the industry. Listed below are such lectures, their  themes/topics and speakers: CXO Lecture Series. As part of its activities, ISiM also launched a CXO lecture series in October 2009, and the inaugural lecture was delivered by Mr. M. N. Vidyashankar, Principal Secretary, Department of E-Governance, Government of Karnataka. He delivered a talk on ""e-Governance in India: Challenges and Opportunities"". Workshops. ISiM organizes workshops and seminars on a regular basis to address various issues pertaining to the information age, which are open for students of the institute, as well as the general public. Details of such events organized in the past are provided below. Conferences. ISiM  collaborates with industry majors and universities to organize conferences. Such conferences organized in the past include: Programmes. ISiM offers the following programmes: Student life. ISiM has a diverse student population, representing many states in India, and also from foreign countries and is a blend of graduates from various science and management disciplines. The M.Tech class of 2011 has approximately 92% being graduates from various Engineering disciplines, and the remaining 8% being graduates from other science and management disciplines. The class of 2011 has 23% of its class being from foreign countries, including China and the Middle East. The class of  2012 also has 27% of foreign students from countries including middle east and Tanzania. The class of 2013 has 64% of foreign students from countries including Iran, Thailand and South Korea. Students in ISiM are given freedom. They are allowed to stay in college campus round the clock. Lab systems are connected with round the clock Internet service and Wi-Fi facilities. Students are free to play indoor games like carrom, chess, checkers etc., and some outdoor games. ISiM Student Association (ISSA). The ISiM Student Association was founded in 2007 with the first batch of ISiM, and represents all students  of ISiM. ISSA has been constituted to coordinate and manage student activities and initiatives, both academic and extracurricular. It represents all students’ interests to the ISiM administration and provides inputs to enrich the curriculum. Members of ISSA executive committee include students from both first and second year of M.Tech, with the Secretary being elected from the second year students.