The Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), founded 1982, is an

autonomous In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ow ...

, Natural Resource Service training institute of

Forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...

located in

Bhopal Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It i ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, established by the

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) is an Indian government ministry. This ministry is headed by Secretary Rank senior most IAS officer. The ministry portfolio is currently held by Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister ...

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

with financial assistance from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and course assistance from the

Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM Ahmedabad) is the world's number 1 business school, located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. The school has been accorded the status of an Institute of National Importance by Ministry of Human Resourc ...

for mid career training of

Indian Forest Service The Indian Forest Service (IFS) is one of the three All India Services of the Government of India. The other two All India Services being the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service. It was constituted in the year 1966 und ...

cadre and all State Forest Service cadre in India. The institute's objective is to fulfill the growing need for the managerial human resource in the area of

Forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

, Environment, and

Natural resources Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. ...

Management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a Government agency, government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includ ...

and allied sectors. The institute is headed by a director selected and appointed by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India. IIFM is engaged in

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

research Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

training Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or fitness that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving one's capability, capacity, productivity and performance. I ...

and

consultancy A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servic ...

in the area of Forest, Environment and Natural Resources Management and allied sectors. The institute was ranked 8th overall in the country by the

Ministry of Human Resource Development The Ministry of Education ( MoE; formerly the Ministry of Human Resource Development from 1985 to 2020) is a ministry of the Government of India, responsible for the implementation of the National Policy on Education. The Ministry is further d ...

in the management institutions category under the

National Institutional Ranking Framework The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) is a methodology adopted by the Ministry of Education, Government of India, to rank institutions of higher education in India. The Framework was approved by the MHRD and launched by Minister ...

in its India Rankings 2016. As a campus, IIFM is famous for its rich

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' ...

and

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is ''funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as ''Biota (ecology ...

with sightings of various wild mammals and birds within the campus.

Campus

The institute is located in the southernwest corner of the city of

in the Nehru Nagar locality. It is on a hill that overlooks the Bhadbhada barrage. The barrage controls the overflow of the upper lake or Bada Talab of

. The spillway for Bhadbhada tails around the IIFM hill, giving it a scenic location surrounded by water on three sides like a peninsula during good monsoons. The location is 3.5 km south of T.T. Nagar and just off the road to

Kerwa Dam Kerwa Dam is located in Mendora village of Bhopal district in Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, ...

. The institute's buildings are designed by Anant Raje. The architecture of the campus is inspired by the historical town of Mandu.

Academics

Academic programmes

IIFM conducts following courses: # Post Graduate Diploma in

Forest Management Forest management is a branch of forestry concerned with overall administrative, legal, economic, and social aspects, as well as scientific and technical aspects, such as silviculture, protection, and forest regulation. This includes management fo ...

(PFM) # Post Graduate Diploma in Sustainability Management (PSM) # Fellow Program in Management (FPM) equivalent to

Ph.D A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

and # Ph.D. Programme of FRI Deemed University # Certificate Course on Chartered Foresters (C3F) The PFM course is the flagship course of IIFM and is one of its kind in Asia. In addition to the above courses, it conducts Management Development programmes.

Post Graduate Diploma in Forest Management (PFM)

The PFM course was started in 1988. It is a two-year residential course. The first batch of PFM students graduated in 1990. It is equivalent to

Master's Degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

. IIFM uses the scores of

Common Admission Test The Common Admission Test (CAT) is a computer based test for admission in graduate management programs. The test consists of three sections: Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension, Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning and Quantitative A ...

(CAT) conducted by

Indian Institutes of Management The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are central government-owned-public business schools for management offering undergraduate, postgraduate, doctoral and executive programmes along with some additional courses in the field of busines ...

and the Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT) conducted by the XLRI to shortlist the candidates for the Written Aptitude Test and the Personal Interview. The shortlisted candidates are required to submit a Statement of Purpose (SOP) on why they want to pursue the PFM course at IIFM. After conducting the Written Aptitude Test and the Personal Interview the institute announces the final list of candidates provisionally selected for the course.

Placement

Most of the job placements at IIFM are with the environment and development sector with

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

s, though recently a number of banks and microfinance institutions have participated in campus placements. Apart from it corporate also participate in IIFM placements and profiles are offered in sales and marketing, market research, banking and finance, environment, health and safety, environment management system, consulting roles, operations etc. with an average package of 6.93 lacs per annum in academic year 2017-2018. IIFM and its

alumni Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...

work closely with

nation A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective Identity (social science), identity of a group of people unde ...

al and international

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.governments A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

academia An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

and

industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...

References