From IFS to heading a global management school – how has the journey been?
It has been a wonderful beginning and I am looking forward to the journey. Interacting with young minds is an extraordinary experience and one that I am grateful for. Young minds are creative and innovative and hungry. They are also tech savvy. I find it fascinating to interact with them. At the same time, I hope they find my global experience also interesting and stimulating.
Life as a diplomat VS life as the Head of SP Jain – which role did/ do you really enjoy?
A diplomat learns to think globally; that’s part of our job. In a school such as this, thinking globally lies at the very heart of its teaching methodology. We teach the students to be multicultural and thus, culturally sensitive. As such, I see a great synergy.
What made you decide to take on this role with SP Jain?
I wanted to continue to think young! There is no better place to do this other than in a school. Age catches up on you when you stop learning. Picasso once said that it takes many years to grow young! The young are associated with ideas, with innovation, with a craving to know more, to change things, to challenge established ways of seeing, to discover. And, they are impatient! The School offered me the platform to interact and to learn and so, naturally, I grabbed the opportunity once it was offered to me.
What kind of challenges have you come across in this role?
I realized very quickly how little I know and how much there is to learn. Technology and the internet are game changers. Information is now at the tip of one’s finger and it is no longer about how much you know but how you are able to successfully process the information. I come from a generation that was not exposed to so much technology. It is challenge but at the same time, a learning experience.
The fundamentals of education as a whole – curriculum planning, practical imparting of knowledge has changed over the years. What changes do you see?
The most important discovery is that our kids and grandchildren will do a job that has not yet been created. So, what should the role of education be in such a scenario? Consequently, it is important to reimagine education, to reformat its end-objective and to constantly reinvent what it is supposed to do. Unless this is done, education would fail to be sustainable, contemporary and relevant.
Do you think they are for the better or worse? And what can be changed to make education sustainable and of quality?
Our educational institutions need to be rooted in the out-of-class experience or the real world, which is volatile, uncertain and unpredictable. This means ‘in here’ and ‘out there’ cannot be silos but an integrated whole.
The importance of industry connections & global exposure cannot be undermined today. Where does SP Jain stand on this?
Being industry relevant is a very strong component of the School because business education is relevant only when it is industry relevant. Additionally, businesses are rapidly becoming global. The unique tri-city model of the School inculcates global thinking and learning in students.
What kind of initiatives has SP Jain taken to ensure that students are in sync with the practical requirements of the industry?
- Regular guest lectures and industry visits are especially tailored to ensure that students have a clear understanding of the evolving expectations industry has of its personnel.
- Use of our simulation laboratories give our students the edge that few schools are able to offer.
Let’s face it: if you want to learn on the job, you may most certainly do so. That is the traditional methodology. Companies incur losses, as training is important but alternatives were not available. Today, our School offers the alternative: across verticals and horizontals. Simulation enables approximations of real-life experience, as never before. We have incorporated simulation as part of our teaching methodology. It is an extension of our philosophy that education can be contemporary, relevant and sustainable, only if it is real-world and experiential.
Would you agree that there is a gap in the skill set of graduating students’ vs what is required in the industry today? How can that be abridged?
Yes, indeed. Consequently, our School has consciously and consistently looked at its teaching methodology and introduced new elements to make education relevant and future ready. Our blended learning programme, for instance, is one such. The simulation laboratory is another unique feature in the pedagogy. Education is relevant only when it is praxiological.
What is the need-of-the-hour in the education industry, irrespective of the field?
Education needs to constantly reinvent itself to remain relevant. Unless we do this, we will create cadres of persons who have ‘book’ knowledge but are unable to contribute in the real world. In a competitive global environment, the relevance of an educational system is measured in terms of how it contributes to national productivity. How much you know matters little. What you can do to improve circumstances, to bring about change is what matters. We are focused on creating change-makers.
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