FIIB’s Domestic Immersion Program, themed “Communion,” took students away from campus for two days of shared experience, play and reflection.
There were no timetables at Jim Corbett. No submissions, no case deadlines, no slides to finish before morning. For two days, FIIB’s final-year PGDM students had one task: to spend time with the people they had spent almost two years beside.
The Domestic Immersion Program, held on 31 October and 1 November 2026, was built around the theme Communion: A Deeper, Shared Togetherness. Students were accompanied by Dr. Rubal Rathi, Head, Student Affairs; Dr. Purnima Rao, Professor, Accounting & Finance and PGP Chair, Academics; Dr. Karan Grover, Assistant Professor, Marketing; Dr. Wajid Ali, Assistant Professor, Analytics; and Dr. Shardul Shankar, Assistant Professor, Business Analytics.
The idea was to experience familiar people in an unfamiliar setting, and to reflect on what students had learned from one another and what they would carry into the next chapter. For Dr. Purnima Rao, that reflection is as much a part of the PGDM as any course. “Two years of classes teach students how to think. Moments like these help them make sense of who they have become, just before the most demanding stretch of the program begins,” she said.
The answers began on the field. Team challenges and group games asked students to coordinate, communicate and back one another under a different kind of pressure, while football, cricket and swimming brought out healthy competition and plenty of noise. “On a field, nobody hides behind a slide deck,” said Amit Ghadai, Officer, Holistic Wellness and Saddle Gym Lead Trainer at FIIB. “You see who passes the ball, who encourages the person who missed, and how quickly a group learns to trust each other.”
Dr. Shardul Shankar saw the same instinct at work. “The best teams aren’t built on skill alone. They are built on trust and the ability to read one another, which is emotional intelligence in practice. Students showed both here, in ways that will matter far more in their careers than any single grade,” he said. When the first day closed, a musical evening of music, dance and dinner gave the batch room to celebrate the journey so far, away from the placement conversations that will soon fill their calendars.
“Stepping into a new environment does more than refresh people. It restores attention and gives them space to reflect, which is exactly what students need before the most demanding months of their PGDM journey,” said Dr. Karan Grover.
Prof. Kokil Jain, Dean, Research and Outreach, FIIB, sees bonds like these lasting well beyond graduation. “The people students sit beside today become the colleagues, clients and collaborators who open doors for them tomorrow. A professional network is built in moments like these, long before anyone calls it one.”
What’s Ahead for this PGDM Batch
In a few months, this batch will scatter across cities, companies and careers. Some will lead teams, some will build ventures, and some will start somewhere no one expects. But the trust built on a playing field and the conversations shared over a late-night dinner will travel with them. When they ask what they carry forward from FIIB, part of the answer will always be each other.
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