Weschool's PGDM-Rural Management (Emerging Economies) program has stemmed from the need of the corporate sector for Managers/future leaders who have a deep understanding and premium knowledge about the rural sector of India in terms of the needs and aspirations, lifestyle, culture and beliefs of the people residing in the smaller towns and villages. A person who is empathetic, has leadership qualities and has an innovative mindset so that s/he is able to think out of the box to correctly identify with the problems and then find ingenious solutions to the problems faced by the rural sector.

The program seeks to groom students who, not only protect the rights of the persons living in the rural areas, but also empower them by giving access to advancements in technology, markets and other comforts/privileges enjoyed by the urban population. They do this while assuming a role either as a Corporate Executive, NGO representative or an Entrepreneur.

Embedded within the 2 years Program is Rural internship of 5 months and 10 days planned in three phases. The first phase is of 10 days "Exploring the grassroots module" in the 2nd trimester, wherein the students stay in the villages to understand the context from various lenses, the second phase is in the intervening months of May-June between the 1st year and the 2nd year of the PGDM-Rural Management (Emerging Economies) Program. Here the companies who have their focus in the rural sector offer the 2 month internship program to the students. In the third phase, the entire 6th trimester is dedicated to the student picking up a Rural based project of his volition, which could in turn either be sponsored by a company, government or an NGO.

The first batch of students of the PGDM-Rural Management (Emerging Economies) program has found very encouraging response from the companies from different Industry verticals.

List of companies/Organizations in which the students of the first batch of PGDM-Rural Management have been selected for their Summer Internship projects.

• Mahindra Finance Ltd.
• Godrej Agrovet Ltd.
• Pidilite Industries Ltd.
• GSK Ltd.
• Reserve Bank of India
• Su-Kam Power Systems Ltd.
• NABARD
• Nerolac Paints Ltd.
• Gowardhan (Parag Milk Foods Pvt. Ltd.)
• Cotton Association of India
• Gokul Milk Ltd.

Some of the Rural focused projects undertaken by the students in their first year of their Management program.

• Developing a value chain for any agriculture byproduct, along with understanding of value-chains for agricultural inputs *
• Developing high end product positioning for any agricultural product**
• Creating IT interventions aimed at developing rural entrepreneurs***
• Identifying Opportunities for instigating micro-banking in rural areas (RBI Guidelines)
• Enhancing information flow in MNREGA projects
• Identifying Opportunities for creating improved rural health services
• Understanding the applicability/functioning of different Rural Schemes
• Using Interaction design as a Business Strategy
• Financial Analysis of different companies
• Sector Analysis of various Industry sectors.

(* Awarded first prize, ** Awarded second prize, *** Awarded Third Prize among 25 projects, evaluation done by industry professionals)

• Cadbury- Modelez International Ltd. – "New Channel development for Cadbury Chocolates, Biscuits and drinks"
• Titan Industries

• AuRuM 2012 - A Roundtable in Partnership with the Industry based on the theme - "Role of a Rural Manager in the Emerging Rural Economy" On 1st Dec, 2012 a Round Table conference titled "AuRuM 2012" was conducted with a view to learn from the executives from the corporate world who have immense experience, in-depth knowledge and understanding about India's rural sector.
  
  Outcome of the Roundtable: After an enthralling discussion on the issues raised during the roundtable, many insights were generated for the benefit of the audience. It was a moral boost to the students of the PGDM-Rural management (Emerging Economies) program since the companies mentioned the need of corporate managers who have an understanding of the rural sector in order to help them to grow in the emerging rural sector, provided that the students were willing to toil it out in the harsh terrain. There emerged new possibilities of collaboration among the industry and academia in terms of joint research and sponsored projects besides the internship opportunities for the Rural Management students in the companies represented. To name a few companies represented at the Roundtable were: ICICI Bank, Yes Bank, Pidilite Industries, Aditya Birla Group, Lupin Ltd, IBM, FINO, Monsanto, Srei Sahaj eVillage, Hero MotoCorp, Cheminova Ltd etc.
• The senate: 24th February, 2013 This was an open ended debate looking at insights and solutions to shape the future of the economy- in the format of the Indian Parliament. This was an ideal platform for the thought leaders of tomorrow to elucidate their visions- how they would propose the upcoming 12th five year plan to be. The event attracted more than 20 colleges across Maharashtra to participate in the debate. The Jury members included present MLAs of Maharashtra.

• Lectures on social sciences by the professors from TISS
• KASHR tool (Knowledge-Attitude-Skill-Habit-Rural Context) to reflect and absorb the classroom learning
• Creativity tools
• Visualization tools (Such as Mindmaps)
• Design thinking as a leaning tool
• Prototyping
• Innovation
• Using Games for understanding financial concepts

• Dr Sten Ekman and Dr Annallil Ekman from Maladarlen University, Sweden conducted a workshop on "Innovation and Research" for the students and guided them on how to identify areas of Innovation and how to conduct Research in the Rural areas.
• 14 member delegate team, including 11 students and 3 faculty members from Maladarlen University, Sweden were part of students and faculty exchange Program, They had a rural exposure organized and conceptualize by Rural Management faculty team at Weschool and was facilitated by the NGO Yuva Mitra, who are doing commendable developmental work based at Sinnar, Maharashtra.
• Student of PGDM-Rural Management (Emerging Economies) went to Canada under a student Exchange program.

• Tree Plantation done by students in collaboration with the NGO Yuvak Biradari (Bharat), who are very active in developing Entrepreneurship in the Rural youth all over India.
• Innovation Workshop was conducted by students for rural youth when they visited the villages under the mentorship of the NGO Yuvak Biradari (Bharat).

We have associated with NGOs for taking inputs in academies and giving practical field exposure to the students. We have been associated with Appropriate Rural Technology institute (ARTI), Yuvak Biradari (Bharat), Yuva Mitra- Sinnar, AFARM, Gram Mangal, Aine.

Sr no	Name of event /session	Organizing institution
1	Panel discussion on "Monsoon and Agricultural prospects"	IMC - Indian Merchants' Chamber
2	Convention program	AIMS – Association of Indian Management Schools
3	Workshop on Agriculture Industry, Food Processing industry and allied matters	ICAI – Institute of Chartered Accountants of India
4	Workshop on Land and Property rights for rural transformation: Understanding the implications of the Forest Rights Act	IRMA- Institute of Rural Management, Anand
5	Water futures	Forum of Free Enterprise
6	2nd Global Strategic Design Forum 2013	CII – Confederation of Indian Industry and Illinois Institute of Technology

• Summer Internship of the first batch(2012-14) at Top companies like Mahindra Finance, Pidilite Industries, Godrej Agrovet Ltd., GSK, Nerolac Paints, Reserve Bank of India, NABARD, Parag Foods Pvt Ltd.
• The two years journey of the graduating student includes a 5 months internship in the rural sector distributed over 3 phases, which not only exposes the students to the rural context but also an experience of taking up meaningful and value adding projects during this tenure.
• Expansive curriculum constituting the Core Management Subjects PLUS subjects based on Rural Management, emerging economy of the rural sector and policies of the Government PLUS Creativity, Innovation and Design Thinking as a problem solving process.
• Opportunity to work on Live projects with the Industry, Government as well as NGOs in the rural sector.
• Opportunity to make a career in this sunrise sector, when the curve is on the rise, which paves way for a bright and accelerated future career prospects.
• More and more Industry sectors are growing in the Rural Space where the students would find jobs, viz. Banking & Finance, Insurance, FMCG & consumer durables, IT & ITES, Telecom, Manufacturing, Agri-business, Healthcare, Retail, Infrastructure, Automotive sector etc.
• Envisaged Job Roles - Program Manager, Rural Business manager, Consultant - Rural Projects, Project Manager, Sales Manager- Rural & Inclusive Banking, Relationship Manager - Rural Banking, New Business Development Manager - Farm Equipment, Product Manager, Rural technology Product Head, Brand Manager - Rural etc.

Eligibility A minimum 50% in graduation, which must be completed by June 2018 Should have taken CAT (2017) conducted by the IIMs for the year specified in the advertisement (IIMS have no role in the Welingkar admission process) and /or/ XAT (2018) / and / or ATMA (2018) and / or CMAT (2018) and / or *MH-CET (2018) and / or GMAT (2015 onwards). *Subject to approval by AICTE Selection Process WeSchool's Unique Profile based selection process assigns significant value to academic performances, work experience, Group Activity, Personal Interview along with the written test scores. To know about New Selection Process for PGDM 2018-20 batch, click here