What is the purpose behind the 28th International Management Symposium, St Gallen? And how are international symposia, in general, important?

The main aim of the International Management Symposium at the University of St Gallen is twofold. First, it's a way to promote interaction across generations by bringing students, eminent corporate executives and other public figures together. Also, the symposium provides a forum for interactionacross cultures and national boundaries.

The importance of such fora lies in each of the following facts: a) A number of relevant current issues are discussed. b) The view-points obtained vary widely due to the diverse nature of the gathering; this helps one to see each issue in an unbiased, holistic manner. c) The speakers often being people who have been directly involved in the issues discussed makes the discussions extremely interesting and "real", so to say.

How does a symposium like this one help develop a management student's skills and groom him as a manager?

The symposium in St Gallen has definitely, I believe, played an important role in the management education of each of us students who attended it. Besides the formal sessions, where various issues were discussed, the symposium gave us a chance to interact, in an informal way, with other students as well as corporate executives from all over the world. This has taught us a lot about different cultures, given us some idea ofmanagement education around the world, and on the whole, broadened our horizons significantly. No business can be run in isolation from the world at large and this symposium will go a long way towards our understanding of the world, which is crucial for every manager of tomorrow.

How many participants were there at the St Gallen symposium? Name a few prominent ones. And was there any representation from the lesser known institutes?

A total of 250 students were selected for attending the symposium. There were about 600 other guest participants -- corporate executives, statesmen and so on. The winner of the students' essay competition was Mauricio Cordova Del Carpio from the Universidad Nacional San Agustin in Peru. The speakers were people from diverse fields -- Flavio Cotti, President of the Swiss Confederation, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand, Prof. Jagdish N Bhagwati, one of the foremost international trade theorists of his generation, Prabhakar R Narvekar, Special Advisor to thePresident of Indonesia and to the Managing Director of the IMP, Lord Griffiths, Vice-Chairman of Goldmann Sachs (Europe), Nils Hagandar, Principal of the Zurich office of McKinsey & Company, to name a few.

India had the largest contingent out of the participating countries. Though most of the 40 strong Indian contingent consisted of students from the four IIMs (with IIMB and IIMC dominating in numbers), we did come across one student from the Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi.

How were students/institutes shortlisted for the symposium?

There was no shortlisting of institutes. Information about the competition was available on the Internet, and individual students were selected on the basis of an essay competition. Each student could select his or her own topic, with the broad theme being "Success in times of Paradox".

What was the participating fee?

There was no participation fee for the symposium. Most of the expenses incurred were also taken care of by the Universityof St Gallen.

What did the title of the seminar -- "Success in Times of Paradox" signify?

The theme of the symposium, "Success in Times of Paradox" played a role in making the lectures and discussions interesting. The following excerpts from the foreword to one of the brochures regarding the symposium provides some clarification on the topic:

"Hopes and aspirations with regard to our perception of success today play a significant role in various areas, which are in turn influenced by many factors: differences in cultural background, in individual or collective demands, in knowledge, in levels of information, and also in standards of comparison. In recent years, words like `transition' or `turmoil':, or the adjective `historical', have been enjoying wide and varied use in everyday language. The radical changes felt throughout the world could represent an opportunity for a totally new way of thinking. Through this change, we will be compelled into direct confrontation with the processes thatunfold around us. Often, with just such a background, our courage and determination to progress will come into harsh conflict with our concerns for reliability and soundness. The contrasts are vast; and the contradictions are both real and apparent. The 28th International Management Symposium would like to examine these and other questions, which arise in `Times of Paradox' when successful and above all responsible corporate action is on our minds."