Shillong (Meghalaya): The seventh Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Shillong will begin its first academic session today.

The Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management (RGIIM) in Shillong will begin functioning with its first batch of students at the Mayurbhanj complex in Nongthymmai, which previously housed the North Eastern Hill University (NEHU).

The institute will be formally inaugurated by Meghalaya Chief Minister Donkupar Roy.

"The people of Meghalaya have for long demanded an IIM in the region. Finally, their dream has come true", Roy said.

A total of 60 students who appeared for CAT 2007 have been selected for the institute's flagship programme - Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management (PGDBM).

The intake capacity will be increased to 120 in the third year and 180 in the sixth year.

A pioneer of the Indian IT industry, Mr. Arjun Malhotra, currently the chairman and CEO of Headstrong, San Jose (California), will be present during the commencement of the first academic session of the institute.

Apart from the flagship PGDBM, the institute will also offer a fellowship programme in management, management development programmes and tourism & hospitality management courses.

The new IIM in Shillong has been setup with an aim to provide a new impetus to quality management education in the North-Eastern region. The institute will also focus on subjects of local relevance such as horticulture, hydel power etc.

The Meghalaya government has provided 120 acres of land free of cost in the new satellite township of Mawdiangdiang, 20 kms from Shillong, for RGIIM's permanent campus.

Interestingly, admission to RGIIM through CAT was not mentioned in the CAT-2007 bulletin.

The Government of India (GOI) setup the IIMs with an aim to train the brightest intellectual talent and produce world class managers.

The existing IIMs are located at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow, Kozhikode and Indore.

The IIMs in Ahmedabad and Calcutta were setup in 1961, whereas the IIM in Bangalore was setup in 1972, Lucknow in 1984, Kozhikode in 1996 and Indore 1998.

The 11th Five Year Plan proposed the setting up of seven new IIMs by 2012 one each in the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Haryana and Meghalaya (RGIIM).