Dikhyaa Mohanty 
Held in the institute’s verdant Sambalpur campus, the launch fulfills a bold promise made in May 2025 and perfectly complements the multidisciplinary, industry-aligned learning envisioned in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
These four-year degrees are intended to develop moral innovators and policy architects, and they take inspiration from prestigious international universities such as MIT, Stanford, Harvard, and Carnegie Mellon University, which offer comparable B.S. programs. The first cohort, which consists of 178 students from more than 20 Indian states—including Bihar, Odisha, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and even the isolated Lakshadweep islands—is renowned for its academic excellence and variety. In an encouraging gender balance, 88 students (69 men and 19 women) were accepted into the Data Science & AI program, while 90 students (51 men and 39 women) were enrolled in the Management & Public Policy program.
The prominence and rigor of the programs are reflected in admissions. JEE (Main) 2025 scores were used to get admission to the Data Science & AI program, with the highest accepted rank being an astounding 44,645. The best performers in Management & Public Policy achieved percentiles as high as 99.80 thanks to CUET (UG) 2025. With average Class 12 scores of 90.5% for AI candidates and 88.2% for policy aficionados, the cohort’s academic prowess is evident.
Along with honorary guests Amit Sareen, Managing Director at Accenture, and Anjan A, Vice President at North Trust, Ratnesh Jha, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact Network India, served as the main guest at the star-studded inaugural ceremony. Faculty, students, and a number of prominent figures from the industry, including Vivek Agarwal (Country Director, Tony Blair Institute), Harpreet Singh (Head of Counterparty Credit Risk, BFSI Sector), Gangadhar Yasam (Head of IT Strategy, Ford Motor Company), Divay Pranav (Business Strategy & Partnerships, Hyundai Motors), and Arpit Bajpai (Co-Founder, Neurosensum), joined Prof. Mahadeo Jaiswal, Director of IIM Sambalpur, who presided over the event.
In his impassioned inaugural address, Prof. Jaiswal declared, “This is a historic step for IIM Sambalpur. By launching these B.S. programmes, we are investing in young minds who will become leaders in technology, policy, and society. These programmes will not only prepare students with academic excellence but also instil in them the values of integrity, innovation, and responsibility towards nation-building.” Anchored in the institute’s core ethos of integrity and innovation, the curriculum emphasises data analysis, critical reasoning, and evidence-based decision-making, fostering cross-functional skills to tackle societal and industrial challenges with compassion and a global perspective.
Prof. Jaiswal also encouraged the freshman to develop the four key intelligences for holistic growth: SQ for spiritual meditation on life’s greater purpose, PQ for physical vitality through exercise and naturopathy, EQ for emotional mastery, and IQ for intellectual sharpness. He praised the degrees as “pioneering,” foreseeing that other prestigious management schools would follow suit.
Echoing these sentiments, Chief Guest Ratnesh Jha congratulated the institute on its stellar NIRF 2025 rankings, which saw a 16—position climb this year, and lauded the launch as a beacon of creativity. “IIM Sambalpur continues to be a hub of creativity and inspiration, opening new avenues for the younger generation,” Jha said. “The four-year B.S. Programme holds immense potential to transform students into accomplished professionals, well-prepared to contribute meaningfully to the nation.” He stressed balancing academic pursuits with spiritual and physical well-being, introducing the “four Cs” as vital for complete fulfilment—though he playfully noted that missing even one could leave progress feeling “incomplete and less fulfilling.”
