KOZHIKODE — The Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIMK) has once again made history in gender diversity by admitting 268 women out of 489 students in its 29th Post Graduate Programme (PGP) batch for 2025–27 — an impressive 55% female representation.
This milestone is particularly notable against the backdrop of the CAT 2024 applicant pool, where only 36% were women. “We didn’t arrive here by accident or through quotas. It’s the result of sustained work to make management education more attractive to women,” said Prof Debashis Chatterjee, Director of IIM Kozhikode.
Breaking tradition, rewriting trends
This marks the fourth time that IIMK has admitted more women than men — previously seen in the 2013–15, 2020–22, and 2024–26 batches. A remarkable shift, considering that in its inaugural batch (1997–99), the institute had just one woman among 42 students.
Since 2012–13, IIMK has actively addressed the gender gap by introducing ‘Women in Leadership’ programmes, aimed at encouraging women to pursue management careers. These initiatives, along with the popular School Leaders Programme that empowers principals — many of whom are women — have helped improve gender balance organically.
Sector-wide ripple effect
While newer IIMs like IIM Sambalpur (76%) and IIM Visakhapatnam (51%) are showing strong numbers of female representation, older institutions like IIM Ahmedabad (30%) and IIM Bangalore (40%) still lag behind.
Prof Chatterjee emphasised that for IIMK, diversity is a leadership priority, not just a metric. “We are building leaders for a diverse, plural world,” he noted.