The Centres of Excellence are a point of pride for XLRI and rightly so. Dedicated to furthering the cause of advanced learning and research in various management-centric fields ranging from responsible leadership to sustainable development, the Centres execute activities that engage multiple stakeholders including students, faculty, staff and practitioners from India and abroad. The Centres also collaborate with state and non-state stakeholders sharing a similar objective to set up an academic and research ecosystem.
Centre for Skill Development
XLRI Jamshedpur had its roots in a vision to train youth in managerial skills. In its Platinum Jubilee year, XLRI’s Skill Development Cell is aiming at going back to these roots and reliving the original dream of the founding fathers of the Institute. To fulfill this mission, XLRI is committed to train youth coming from the rural areas of Jharkhand and Odisha, with employment skills to enhance not just their livelihoods but their lives.
SDC is working to bring in youth from the SC/ST/OBC categories who fulfill the necessary criteria to be trained at institutes and workshops. XLRI will be providing the necessary financial support to complete the programme.
Centre for Entrepreneurship
The newly created Centre for Entrepreneurship aims to foster the entrepreneurial spirit of students and the budding entrepreneurs of the state of Jharkhand. This is planned to be achieved by tapping into the existing ecosystem and creating a more viable ecosystem in the state by bringing all stakeholders on one common platform.
XLRI JRD Tata Foundation for Business Ethics
In 1991, in association with a few select Tata Group Companies, XLRI established the JRD Tata Foundation in Business Ethics to espouse its long-standing commitment and contribution to business ethics in India. The Foundation’s stated aim is to publicly affirm the urgent need to uphold ethics in all spheres of business.
JRD Tata, himself a role model par excellence, who delivered the first oration in 1991 was known to proclaim and live one challenge: Ask not just what is legal, but go beyond, and ask, is it the right thing to do? The JRD Tata Chair in Business Ethics at XLRI for the advancement of research in this field also falls under the aegis of the Foundation.
The Foundation teaches Managerial Ethics/ Business Ethics/ Corporate Ethics as a standalone core course to all junior students in HRM, BM, GMP as well as the Weekend Batch. It also offers several MDPs such as Putting People First, Resolving Management Dilemma, Powering Executive Leadership with Ethics and Morals; In-company programmes like Value Ethics (VE) and Organizational Ethics Culture Building (OECB) for NHPC, Pillars of Indian Oil Vision (Ethics, environment, Customer, People, Technology, Innovation) for Executives of IOCL, Gurgaon, among others.
The Foundation has designed a new application technique for diagnosing corporate fraud - the LEMS technique (Legality, Ethicality, Morality, and Spirituality) – which proposes a four-fold lens for checking and developing the humanizing content of executive decisions.
The Foundation hopes to attract highly qualified faculty in Business Ethics for teaching both the standalone core course as well as electives in Applied Business Ethics.
Centre for Peace and Justice
Inspired by the Jesuit spirit of Magis, the Centre for Peace and Justice was established in 2019 and is dedicated to being a ‘People’s Centre’ that works to minimise conflict and maximise peace, without discrimination of any kind as enshrined in various International Conventions and Covenants and the Constitution of India. The Centre collaborates with state and non-state stakeholders with similar objectives and values to set up and support academic programmes, advocacy, research centres and training for the advancement of education and knowledge in the field of peace studies, justice, conflict resolution and communal harmony, thereby aiming to achieve the greater common good.
XLRI Case Research and Simulation Development Centre
Case studies, games and simulations are the founding stones of management teaching pedagogy. XLRI Case Research and Simulation Development Centre (XL-CRSDC) was established to meet this growing demand for inclusion of more cases, games, and simulations in the teaching curriculum. The centre envisages making XLRI a world-class business case repository. The cases are written by faculty members, research scholars and professional case writers. The services offered by the centre include providing writing and editorial assistance to case writers along with managing distribution and promotion of the registered cases. To develop impactful field-based cases the centre has been establishing strategic collaboration with corporates and institutions. To promote the cases on a global platform, the centre has partnered with The Case Centre (UK) and is in the process to establish partnership with Harvard Business Publishing as well. The centre also facilitates the case authors in sending cases for international competitions. Many of the cases registered with the centre have won accolades in international forums.
Centre for Learning and Teaching Innovations
The Centre of Learning and Teaching Innovations strives to work towards deploying the tools and pedagogical approaches to improve students’ reasoning and argument building skills and to develop critical thinking. The Centre will work towards understanding and developing the best practices of teaching and learning.
Fr Arrupe Centre for Ecology & Sustainability (FACES)
Fr Arrupe Centre for Ecology and Sustainability (FACES) is a multi- disciplinary centre at XLRI, Jamshedpur, which aims to promote policies, practices and dialogue which have an impact on holistic and sustainable development of society and enterprises.
Financial Market Centre
The Financial Market Centre (FMC) was established in 1998 to facilitate advanced learning and research for the Indian financial sector. The FMC serves as the focal point of interest at XLRI in research, training and consultancy in financial markets.
Some important activities of FMC included the National Derivatives Conference (1998), International Workshops on Value at Risk in collaboration with the Risk Metrics New York (2003 & 2004), Workshops on Bond Markets and Interest Rate Derivatives (2009-12), International Conference on Inclusive Finance (2012, 2013 & 2014), and pan-India Workshops on Wealth Management & Investment Advisory in collaboration with SBI Mutual Funds (2014 & 2105).
The initiative works to promote financial literacy among the underserved. XLRI has been registered by RBI as an institution for promoting Depositor Education and Awareness activities. The centre has received support from several premier financial organisations of India such as State Bank of India, National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD), the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) in furthering the activities in the domain of inclusive finance.
Centre for Human Resource Development
The Centre for Human Resource Develop-ment undertakes research, conducts training programmes and organizes conferences to support the knowledge creation and dissemination in the area of Human Resource Management. CHRD has pioneered a number of initiatives such as housing of the first secretariat of National HRD Network, starting the NHRD Newsletter, conducting HRD conferences, among others. In the context of XLRI’s legacy in Human Resource Management, the Centre assumes great significance within the institute’s ecosystem.
Centre for Logistics & SCM
The vision of The Centre for Logistics and Supply Chain Management is to provide leadership for the evolving logistics and supply chain profession through the development, dissemination, and advancement of logistics and supply chain knowledge
The centre aims to provide national and international focal points for advanced teaching, training and research in the field of Logistics and Supply Chain Management. As part of its activities, the Centre has designed a Post Graduate Certificate Programme in Logistics and Supply Chain Management (PGCLSCM) for working executives for India in 2005 and Dubai in 2007. These have been reintroduced as e-MDPs. The centre has professional ties with major professional bodies like Indian Institute of Materials Management and CII Eastern Region and Association of Supply Chain Professionals (ASCP) India.
Centre for Gender Equality & Inclusive Leadership
The trigger for the genesis of the Centre for Gender Equality and Inclusive Leadership was India’s escalating gender gap highlighted in the World Economic Forum’s 14th Global Gender Parity report. In terms of economic opportunities for women, India is ranked 149th out of 153 participating. India’s historically poor gender ratios, disparate gender-specific access to healthcare along with other entrenched societal issues, exacerbate the problem. The Centre aims to improve gender equality and workforce participation of women in industry, government and social sectors through promoting research and dissemination of gender-related issues and best practices, developing programmes and interventions to promote inclusive leadership across corporate and social segments, and building awareness through advocacy to influence and shape policy and practices.
XLRI Centre for Spirituality
XLCeS is the Centre that addresses spiritual yearnings at XLRI, Xavier School of Management. The Centre for Spirituality undertakes training sessions in spiritual activities, conducts research in spiritual animation, in mentoring young scholars on the spiritual path. The Centre also works towards spiritual wellbeing by networking with other centres of spirituality.
Endnotes
The Jesuit spirit of Magis that exhorts members of the XLRI community to excel in everything they do has been at the heart of the establishment of these Centres. In turn, the presence of the Centres emanate the genuine intent to work towards the greater good, thereby influencing generations of XLRI students to become responsible, mindful leaders.
***
Objectives of The Centre For Learning and Teaching Innovation
- To share the best practices of teaching and sharing of experiences
- To undertake research on effectiveness of various pedagogical approaches and the role of participant centered learning in the Indian context
- To sensitize faculty members about the dynamics of adult learning
- To collaborate with other Management Schools both from India and abroad
- To explore how technology can be harnessed to maximize learning
- To provide a forum for faculty to understand the foundational elements of scholarship of teaching and to enhance learning of the dynamics of case-based learning, simulations and other active learning approaches
- To act as a resource centre and a mentor for faculty to achieve excellence
