Rural Immersion: Learning Beyond Classrooms

What is rural immersion?

Rural Immersion is a unique component of all the full-time, residential programs (BM, HRM, and Ex-PGDM) of XLRI Jamshedpur. It has been designed as an experiential learning for the students to provide them exposure to life in rural areas, including sensitization to, and understanding of, the several economic, social, and environmental issues faced by the people living in rural areas around Jamshedpur.

When was rural immersion introduced at XLRI Jamshedpur?

Rural Immersion was introduced in 2005 and has undergone several changes in the exact format and schedule over the last two decades. The basic design, however, remains the same in the form of students staying in a rural setting around Jamshedpur for three days and two nights.

What exactly happens in rural immersion?

In the current form (since 2022), XLRI conducts the rural immersion program in partnership with Tata Steel Foundation (TSF). Between mid-June and mid-August, more than 500 students across the three full-time degree granting programs-Business Management (BM), Human Resources Management (HRM), and General Management Program (GMP)- are taken in batches of about 60 each to different villages in the three districts of East Singhbhum (where Jamshedpur is located), West Singhbhum, and Seraikela-Kharsawan of Jharkhand.

Briefing sessions, taken by faculty members and coordinators from XLRI and TSF, are conducted for the departing batch every week. The students depart from the institute on Friday morning and reach their host households by Friday afternoon. Students are then divided into groups of 6 and the groups get to stay in different houses in different villages in different blocks of a district. The students are supposed to treat the new place as their new house and the hosts as their new family. They stay with the host family, not as a guest but as one of the family members, and assist them in all the daily chores, including cooking and cleaning. The idea essentially being to immerse themselves in the rural way of life. They also have to carry out one individual and one group assignment.

During their stay in the villages, students get to visit primary school, health care centres, public distribution systems, rural markets (haats) among others and interact with representatives from the self-help groups, village heads- munda-manki (traditional governance system in such villages), school administrators etc.

How is rural immersion connected to management education?

The purpose of management education is not just to award certificates and MBA degrees by disseminating knowledge related to the principles of management (e.g., marketing, HR, operations and supply chain, strategy etc.) and imparting certain key skills. The true purpose is to promote widening of thought process, honing decision-making ability, and ultimately, or hopefully, resulting in the transformation of an individual. That transformation not just benefits the individual but is also positive for society, the nation and the world.

Driven by its vision of nurturing “responsible global leaders for the greater common good and a sustainable future”, one of the ways XLRI Jamshedpur, the oldest management institute in India, has taken to realize the purpose of management education is to imbed rural immersion as a mandatory component of management education.

For a vast majority of students of XLRI, that come mostly from urban settings, it is their first exposure in a rural setting. This exposure causes a lot of unlearnings and learnings about self and the rural community. Because of the unique geographic location of XLRI, a lot of villages are inhabited by different tribal groups and for students it is also their first exposure to some commonalities and some uniqueness of the tribal way of life. While this immersion may be challenging for some of the students, sometimes because of how different it may be from their usual way of life and sometimes due to the period in which it is conducted (hot and humid summer followed by monsoons), for most students, it is a life-changing experience.

Based on the two decades of experience and inputs from key stakeholders, including students, partnering organizations, local government, and rural communities, XLRI is now planning initiatives to study and create sustainable and long-term impact for rural communities through rural immersion and sustained engagement. Students are expected to play a key role in this initiative.

What are the common takeaways for students from rural immersion?

Based on the students’ experience of two decades, there are several takeaways on personal, academic, and professional fronts for the students.

From a personal point of view, developing empathy, a deep appreciation for the strong community feeling with villagers, the disconnect between happiness and material possession, the desire to dream big without being held captive to existing challenges, and getting a new perspective are some of the more common takeaways of the students, something that cannot be easily taught inside a classroom.

From the point of view of their formal curriculum, such visits and interactions help students closely understand and appreciate various topics related to economics, marketing, supply chain, organizational behaviour, digital technology, financial inclusion, governance and public policy, and sustainable development among others. This understanding often helps them during formal classroom teaching later, case-competitions, recruitment interviews, discussions within and outside classrooms, applications for fellowships and higher education, and sometimes their entrepreneurial stint.